Jay Edwards was about to tow an old trailer off an empty North Philadelphia lot Thursday evening when he glanced down and saw a powerful weapon sitting on the snow-covered ground.
“I thought it was fake," the towing company owner told NBC10.
It was an Uzi. The high-powered firearm, with a magazine still attached, had been inside the semi-trailer along with other military paraphernalia.
A crew had tossed all the trailer's contents onto the ground of the lot at 6th and Cecil B. Moore Avenue as they readied it to be scrapped at a nearby yard, Edwards said.
Time was ticking down to get to the scrap yard before they closed so they told Edwards just to leave the weapon there. But he couldn't.
“I didn’t want to leave it on the ground and let the wrong person get their hands on it," he said.
Edwards threw it into his truck, scrapped the trailer and then brought the rifle to Philadelphia Police's 25th District.
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"I left it inside the truck and notified the sergeant about it," he said. "They sent someone out to get it out of the truck."
Police tell NBC10 they have taken custody of the weapon, which they originally identified as an AK-47, and had a firearms expert inspect it. They found there was not ammunition inside. Police may also do another sweep of the lot.
Investigators in the department's East Detective Division are now looking into the discovery.
Edwards isn't sure whether the weapon worked, but regardless, he's glad it didn't stay on the streets.
“I think there’s about 30 rounds in the clip and if the wrong person gets hold of it, then what?” he asked.
Contact Vince Lattanzio at 610.668.5532, vince.lattanzio@nbcuni.com or follow @VinceLattanzio on Twitter and Facebook.
