Jan. 31--STRATFORD -- A Bloomfield man was apologetic Monday after leaving his loaded handgun in the dressing room of a local department store.
"I'm really sorry and I've learned a lot from this," said Antoine Williams told the Connecticut Post after he was charged with first-degree reckless endangerment. "It's not something I meant to do."
Police said on Saturday night Williams, 30, of Rockwell Avenue, Bloomfield, left his 40-caliber Glock handgun, loaded with hollow-point bullets, in the dressing room of the Burlington Coat Factory on Barnum Avenue Cut-Off. An employee who was later cleaning up the dressing room area found the handgun and called police.
Police said Williams has a permit for the gun, and after he was notified of its discovery he drove to the Police Department. Williams was released on a promise to appear in court pending arraignment in Superior Court on Feb. 9.
In an interview with the Post, Williams explained that he taken his gun and loaded it in anticipation of going to a shooting range in Bridgeport later that day.
"But then we were rushing around. We had a lot of things to do at church, then my son got sick and then I went to the store to get a shirt," he related.
He said he put down the gun in the dressing room to try on a shirt and forgot it.
"I was just in such a hurry because I was worried they were going to be closing the store soon," he added.
Contact Daniel Tepfer at 203-330-6308 or [email protected]. Follow him on twitter.com/dantepfer
Copyright 2012 - Connecticut Post, Bridgeport
