I honestly don't know what I'd do if I were the one to find these. Keep everything? Keep the ammunition? Call the police?
Eight assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition Tuesday were found stashed in a North Austin dumpster.
Someone noticed the weapons inside the dumpster outside the Contempo Apartments 5000 block of Swanee near North Lamar and Airport Boulevard around 11:30 a.m.
Austin police officers and agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms pulled out eight assault rifles with upper receivers and box after box of ammunition. It took several hours to collect and inspect.
People who live on the dead-end street watched with worry.
"It's so quiet out here you hardly ever think of anything like that," said Richard Marquez.
Marquez has lived at a house a few yards from the dumpster for several decades. He watched in shock on Tuesday as agents wrapped the guns in white pieces of cloth and tucked them into the trunk of a patrol car.
"Who put it there? That's the scary part. We still live here with our windows open and sit out here in the afternoon," said Marquez.
Detectives don't know who hid the guns and the ammo in the dumpster or why.
"The neighborhood is a decent neighborhood. Everybody's pretty friendly, but there are a few vagrants that come into the neighborhood," said Jeremy Withrow.
"I see very strange people walking around occasionally," said Inez Trigo.
While police investigate, the community says it's locking up a little tighter.
"I actually have guns of my own. I keep it for that purpose, to protect my kid, my girlfriend, us. It makes me a little worried. A little more so than before hand," said Withrow.
Police can't say how long the guns had been there, but neighbors suspect they were disposed of very recently. They say the dumpster is usually emptied early Tuesday mornings.
The ATF is leading the investigation; Austin police are assisting.