Lauren Tannehill Leaves AR-15 in Rental Car, Family Shocked to Find Weapon in Back Seat
Police in Florida revealed that the wife of Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill left an assault rifle in the back of a rental vehicle in South Florida. The weapon was later found by a family who rented the vehicle soon afterwards.
The Broward Sheriff's Office revealed that Lauren Tannehill rented a Nissan Rogue from EZ Rent-A-Car at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Jan. 4.
She later returned to exchange the Rogue for a different car, but police stated she forgot to remove a LMT AR-15 assault rifle. Authorities added that the weapon was secured in a case. Police added that the Tannehills reported the bag lost immediately, but did not disclose what was inside.
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"Though dangerous if it would have landed in the wrong hands, it's not criminal," Broward sheriff's spokeswoman Keyla Concepción told The Florida Sun-Sentinel. "They simply forgot it."
Before the rifle could be retrieved, the vehicle was rented by another woman, Judith Fleissig of Rochester, N.Y., who discovered the gun and contacted EZ Rental Car. Employees then advised her to report the rifle to police.
Fleissig was in the area with her daughter who was interviewing for a pediatric residency program in Miami, but the firearm was not found until two days after the vehicle was rented, according to reports by the NY Daily News.
"Oh my God, it's a gun," Fleissig recalled her daughter saying. "I said, 'I think I'm going to throw up.'"
The company that rented the car, EZ Rent-A-Car, insisted that cars are cleaned out before they are rented out again.
"I'm not sure how that could get past," Charlie Graham, the company's VP of business development, told The Sun-Sentinel.
No charges are expected to be filed and a Dolphins spokesman stated that the Tannehills view this as a personal matter.
