Semi-Automatic Rifle Found Inside Baby Shower Gift Bought at Florida Goodwill

A guest at a baby shower in Crestview, Florida, was shocked to find out her gift — a baby-bouncer bought at a Goodwill secondhand store in Valparaiso — contained a semi-automatic rifle.

Veronica Alvarez-Rodriguez said on Facebook that she bought the Baby Einstein Activity Jumper for about $10 at a Goodwill thrift store in Valparaiso, Florida. She said the package was “not even opened” when she bought it.

When opening her gifts on December 1, mother-to-be Amber Rosas suddenly found herself in possession of a Mossberg 715T semi-automatic rifle, Alvarez-Rodriguez said. “The gun now belongs to Baby Jonathan, who is due to enter this world any day now,” Alvarez-Rodriguez wrote on Facebook.

This video, taken on December 2, shows a gun nestled inside the baby bouncer’s box. Alvarez-Rodriguez said she updated her Facebook post to include the video after social media users questioned the legitimacy of the post and claimed the rifle couldn’t fit in the box.

Alvarez-Rodriguez said the Crestview Police Department initially told them “do what you want with [the gun],” but she later updated the post to say police were holding the gun for 90 days.

In a statement to Storyful, the Crestview Police Department confirmed the incident, saying a “.22 Caliber Mossberg Rifle” was found inside the box.

“In a joint investigation with the Valparaiso Police Department, it was discovered that the item could have been dropped off at any of the Goodwill Drop Boxes between Tallahassee and Pensacola, Florida, before being distributed at the Valparaiso location,” police said. Police ran the rifle’s serial number through a national database and determined that it had not been stolen, and was not linked to any known criminal activity.

“The company that manufactures the infant-bouncer has donated a new bouncer to the family as a replacement,” they added.

Police said they were trying to determine where the gun was purchased, “and hopefully discover the owner of the rifle to confirm how it was donated to Goodwill.” Credit: Amber Rosas via Storyful