CRESTVIEW, Fla. — It appeared to be an ideal gift for a baby shower -- a baby bouncer. But the military wife, who bought the gift at a Goodwill thrift store in a north Florida town, was shocked when the father-to-be opened the box and found a semi-automatic, loaded rifle.
Veronica Alvarez-Rodriguez and her husband were heading to the baby shower Sunday when they stopped at the Goodwill store, located in the Panhandle town of Valparaiso, the Northwest Florida Daily News reported. The Baby Einstein bouncer was unopened and appeared to be brand new, so Alvarez-Rodriguez bought it for $9.99, the newspaper reported.
“It was like the perfect gift for the baby shower,” Alvarez-Rodriguez told the newspaper.
When the couple went to the baby shower in Crestview, the father-to-be was thrilled when he opened the box and found a fully loaded, Mossberg 715T semi-automatic rifle.
He shouted, "You guys got me a gun!" Alvarez-Rodriguez told the Daily News.
Alvarez-Rodriguez and her husband, however, were mortified.
The Crestview Police Department was called and an officer checked the couple’s identifications to make sure they were not convicted felons, according to Maj. Andrew Schneider, public information officer for the police department.
The officer originally allowed the father-to-be to keep the rifle, but the next day police asked him to surrender the weapon, the Daily News reported.
The incident remains under investigation, Schneider said.
On Monday, a Goodwill employee said she couldn’t comment on the matter.
Alvarez-Rodriguez can now laugh about the incident.
"Goodwill has the best treasures for $9.99," she told the Daily News.