LAPD finds 1,200 guns, two tons of ammo in dead man's Pacific Palisades home
LAPD finds 1,200 guns, two tons of ammo in dead man's Pacific Palisades home
By KATE MATHER contact the reporter
It wasn't what police expected to find when they searched a man's Pacific Palisades home last week.
More than 1,200 guns were strewn about the Palisades Drive house and garage, police said. The weapons ranged from high-end pistols to shotguns and rifles. Many had never been fired.
Some were still wrapped in their boxes, with the price tags still attached.
It was a "staggering number of guns," said LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith. Police also found roughly two tons of ammunition.
"Our truck couldn't carry it all," Smith said. "We had to go back and make another trip."
The unusual discovery came as police investigated the death of the man, whose decomposing body was found in a car parked down the street from his home.
Although the LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide Division detectives were initially called to handle the case, Smith said, they determined there were no signs of foul play and are not investigating the death as a homicide.
Coroner's officials said Monday evening that the man had not yet been identified and that they still have not determined how he died.
Detectives are also trying to find out why the man had so many guns. Smith said there were no initial indications that the man had a criminal motive, no signs he was smuggling the weapons or plotting any sort of attack.
But, Smith said, the LAPD's gun detail will examine each of the weapons to determine whether they have been linked to any crime.
"We have a lot of work to do," he said. "Running the background, history and legality of these weapons is going to require a tremendous amount of time."
"It's not a crime to have a large number of weapons so long as they were legal to own and legally obtained," Smith said "We want to make sure that's the case."
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