Ikea has long been known as a massive one-stop warehouse for everything from assemble-it-yourself bunk beds to artificial potted plants to Swedish meatballs.
On Monday, one child found something a little different at an Ikea store in Fishers, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis: A handgun inside a sofa.
The firearm had apparently fallen into the cushions after its owner sat down on the couch, Sgt. Tom Weger of the Fishers Police Department told The Washington Post.
After "just a few minutes," a 6-year-old child found the gun and fired it at least once into the couch cushions, Weger said. It was then the gun owner noticed his gun was missing.
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In a statement, Ikea said it had apologized to the family of the child and was taking the incident seriously.
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No arrests were made Monday, but the Hamilton County prosecutor's office will decide if criminal charges are warranted, Weger said.
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Although Ikea says it has a no-weapons policy "to prevent exactly these types of situations," Indiana has some of the most pro-gun laws in the United States.
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Evaluating those same gun laws, the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence has given Indiana a "D-" grade, pointing out that in 2016, the state had the 18th highest rate of gun deaths per capita in the nation.
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"Being a knucklehead is not a crime in Indiana, or in most places," Relford told the news station. "I actually doubt there will be criminal charges filed."
The incident occurred just three days after the Fishers Police Department promoted responsible gun ownership on its social media accounts.
"Model responsible behavior around guns," read a flier the police department tweeted Friday. "Tell your peers to be SMART.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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