A family outing to a mall in New Hampshire turned in an instant when a child picked up a syringe that was laying in the middle of the floor. 

A New Hampshire father spoke to WBZ-TV under the condition of anonymity. He and his wife were shopping with their three children, ages 3, 5 and 6, on Sunday at the Macy's in Salem, New Hampshire. The family was waiting near the dressing room when their middle child walked up to him with something in her hand. 

"Something incredibly sinister"

"I immediately noticed it and said put that down," the father recalled. "When she handed it to me, I immediately realized that it was a syringe that was full of brown fluid. There was just something incredibly sinister about it." 

The man said he immediately took the syringe, which appeared to have a cap on it, to an employee of the store. He said that employee notified a manager and then called police. 

Neither the father or his daughter showed any symptoms, but he said on the car ride home an officer from the Salem Police Department called to check in and notified the family the syringe likely contained fentanyl or heroin. 

"We were just in shock of what happened," he said. "That night I just held my child the entire night just waiting for something to happen. Asking myself as the father what did I do wrong? What could I have done differently?" 

The father praised the work of the Macy's employees who acted urgently and even called him mid-week to provide an update. The company said its employees followed the proper protocol during the incident. 

"At Macy's, the safety of our customers and colleagues is always our top priority, and all incidents that put that at risk are taken seriously. Per our policy, we are unable to provide additional information and defer further questions to the local authorities," a Macy's spokesperson said. 

It is still unclear how the syringe got there. The Salem Police Department would not respond to WBZ-TV's request for comment.