5-year-old finds gun belonging to law enforcement in public restroom

A 5-year-old found a gun in a public restroom that belongs to a State Bureau Investigations Agent.

It happened at a Mexican Restaurant and Grill in Harrisburg Saturday night.

"We was having dinner she said she needed to go to the bathroom and her mother took her. She walked into the stall and she turned around and come back and said mommy there's a gun in here," Jody Sarris, the father of the 5-year-old said.

Sarris says his young daughter found the weapon lying near a trash can in the first bathroom stall.

The girl told her mother, who notified restaurant employees. They called police.

The Cabarrus County Sheriff's Office says the gun belongs to an SBI Agent who had dinner there, earlier in the evening.

Sarris says shortly after his daughter found the gun, it's owner ran back inside the restaurant.

"When she walked in she had that look on her face, like scared to death and it was even more so when she realized it was gone," Sarris said.

The restaurant owner says the gun was turned back over to the SBI Agent. The father is terrified of what could have happened to his daughter.

"Could of killed herself, hurt somebody else. Even in the hands of a wrong adult could have gotten ahold of it and you don't know what could've happened from that," Sarris said.

Fox 46 WJZY spoke with the SBI earlier and they are looking into the matter. We will update this story as soon as we hear back from them.