A loaded Vancouver police handgun has gone missing in the Downtown Eastside after an officer dropped it during a foot chase this week.
The Sig Sauer P226 pistol was lost Wednesday afternoon near Oppenheimer Park while a plainclothes officer was chasing a suspected drug dealer, according to a police press release. A witness reported seeing someone pick up the gun, but no one has come forward with the firearm and a 24-hour search has turned up nothing.
Police say the chase began at 3 p.m. when two officers witnessed a drug deal in the 300-block of Cordova Street. One officer confronted the suspected dealer, who ran away through the 200-block of Dunlevy Street, across the park and into the 300-block of Jackson Avenue, where he was arrested when he tried to hide in some bushes.
When his partner arrived to help take the suspect into custody, the officer realized his pistol had slipped out of its holster.
The gun has the serial number U778210. Police say anyone who finds the gun should assume it is loaded, avoid touching it and call 911.
