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Dad Claims 2-Year-Old Found Loaded Gun In Rental Car

SUNRISE (CBSMiami) - Louis Venuto says his 2 year old daughter was picking up toys off the floorboard of a car he recently rented when she made a horrifying discovery, a loaded handgun.

"I noticed she got quiet," Venuto said. "So I quick looked back and I saw she was holding a handgun. I just immediately grabbed it from her."

At first Venuto thought the gun was a fake then he says he saw hollowpoint bullets in the gun clip.

Watch Carey Codd's report, click here.

"I looked at the safety and the safety was off too," he said. "All you had to do to fire the gun was pull the trigger."

Venuto says he rented the car from an Enterprise location in Sunrise. We tried to speak with someone at the business on Friday afternoon but they were closed when we arrived. Venuto wonders how the company could rent a car with a loaded gun inside.

"I don't understand how you own a big business like enterprise all over the world and you get a car back from someone and you don't clean under the seat and then rent it to someone else," Venuto said.

Davie Police Captain Dale Engle said police officers took the gun for safekeeping but he said no crime was committed -- just someone's property left in a vehicle.

Venuto wonders how the owner of the gun could have left it behind and how car rental employees missed it when cleaning. Ultimately, he's thankful his daughter is safe.

"That gun could've went off and someone could've got hurt and I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to my little girl," he said. That's everything for me."

CBS4 News reached out to the corporate offices of Enterprise. An employee said in an email that they are aware of the gun being found in the car and are thoroughly investigating the incident.

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