NJ school kids find rifle on residential street. Did cop leave it there?

🔵 Rifle found outside home on residential street in Camden County

🔵 Gun owners call it a double standard

🔵 An active investigation is ongoing, Voorhees police say

BERLIN BOROUGH — Police are investigating after a school bus driver found a rifle lying on a residential street where a police officer lives. 

Borough police responded to South Arlington Avene around 6:45 a.m. Wednesday. A school bus driver had called to report that there was a gun in the street.

Police said officers made sure the weapon was safe.

"The incident remains under investigation currently. The Berlin Police Department is aware that images as well as posts to social media are circulating in relation to this incident, and the involved weapon is not property of the Berlin Police Department or any Berlin Police Officer," said Berlin police Lt. Joshua Smith in a statement.

No further information was provided and no criminal charges had been announced as of Thursday afternoon.

Where did the gun come from?

A photo of the rifle was posted on Reddit to r/NJGuns by user WeakEngineer4254 on Wednesday.

"My son sent me this from his bus on his way to school. Laying right outside a cop’s house where his/her cruiser is always parked," the user said. The user said the house belonged to a Voorhees police officer, which New Jersey 101.5 could not confirm.

“Whoops… I didn’t realize that fell out”
byu/WeakEngineer4254 inNJGuns

Other users said the owner would have been criminally charged if they weren't a cop.

"For the average civilian, this would be imprisonment for many years. For a cop this is a public reprimand," one commenter said.

"Call everyone, every news agency, everything. Cop deserves what we'd all get for being that stupid," said another commenter.

While Lt. Smith said that the rifle did not belong to any Berlin police officer, he did not say whether it belonged to anyone from another law enforcement agency. Smith did not respond to an email inquiry asking where exactly the rifle was found.

Home belongs to Voorhees police officer?

Google Street View shows a Voorhees police vehicle parked on the street.

An investigation was ongoing, according to a statement from the Voorhees police chief that was provided by a spokesperson.

"We cannot comment at this time as there is an open, active investigation," said Voorhees police Chief Louis Bordi.

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