INDIANAPOLIS An Indianapolis mother recently made a startling discovery after buying a used car. Her young daughter found a loaded gun hidden under one of the seats, a little more than a week after the purchase.
On Saturday, Danielle Harlan and her 6-year-old daughter, Noellah, were headed to the gas station.
“[Noellah] was getting ready to get in [the car] and she leaned in here and she said, ‘Mommy, I see something,” Harlan said.
Noellah held up the last thing her mom expected.
”I’m not familiar with guns, so I didn’t know if it was real or not, but it scared me,” Harlan said. “My daughter had a gun in her hand.”
The discovery came just 11 days after Harlan said she bought the used car from Hubler Toyota. That timeline matches up with Assurant Vehicle Care documents Harlan shared.
Harlan called the police after taking the gun from her daughter. The weapon was a semi-automatic pistol with 12 rounds in the magazine, according to the police report.
“My daughter could’ve died, I could’ve died, a random stranger could’ve died,” Harlan said.
Thankful no one got hurt, Harlan is now left asking questions. The biggest one being: how was the gun left in the car?
“If it goes off the lot [and] the papers have been signed, I feel it should be thoroughly checked,” Harlan said.
After talking to police, Harlan said she met with one of the dealership’s used car managers, who told her someone else bought the car and returned it just a day or two before she took it off the lot.
“Who buys a car, has it for 24 hours and then is like nope, never mind,” Harlan said. “How do I know it wasn’t used in the commission of a crime?”
With such a quick turnaround between the previous owner’s buy and trade, Harlan said the manager told her he had decided not to inspect the car.
“He felt that since it had only been driven 35 miles, there was no need to do a detail on it,” Harlan said.
To her surprise, Harlan said the manager told her it’s not the first gun that’s been found in a used car.
“If it’s happened before, why are we not doing the extra work to make sure it never happens again?” Harlan said.
FOX59/CBS4 spoke with the used car manager over the phone, who acknowledged meeting with Harlan but said he had no comment. Harlan said she wishes she could give the car back, but is stuck with it.
“We need a second car, but this car scares me,” Harlan said. “I don’t know what’s in it.”
FOX59/CBS4 reached out to IMPD for details about the incident and whether or not the gun could be traced to any recent crimes, but did not hear back.
