San Francisco police are on the hunt for the missing handgun of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who lost the weapon after he left it on top of his car and drove off, according to a statement from ICE officials.
ICE officials say that the agent reported that he lost the H&K P200sk .40 caliber handgun in the Ingleside neighborhood just before 7 a.m. Friday, according to ABC's San Francisco affiliate KGO-TV.
Following the report, officials released a statement to other officers saying, "Regarding a lost or stolen loaded firearm. An ICE agent left his phone with a loaded weapon on top of his vehicle and drove off."
Later confirming the incident to the press, ICE officials said, "A duty weapon belonging to a special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was reported missing Friday morning in San Francisco," according to Fox's San Francisco affiliate KTVU-TV. "The incident was properly reported through official federal channels and to local authorities. The matter is currently under investigation."
There has been no comment about any potential disciplinary measures the agent might face.
News of federal agents losing their weapons while on duty has been increasingly common and has been linked to at least two high-profile murders within the past eight months, reported the Associated Press. In September, muralist Antonio Ramos was murdered with a stolen ICE officer's firearm as he was painting beneath an Interstate 580 overpass in Oakland, Calif. In June, a firearm used in the fatal shooting of Kate Steinle on Pier 14 in San Francisco was determined to have been stolen from a Bureau of Land Management agent.
Due to the frequency of these incidents, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has been considering a measure requiring gun owners to put their firearms in secured lockboxes if they leave the guns in an unattended car.
