A gun was found in a plastic bag by a pair of volunteers early Saturday morning during the Astoria Park shoreline cleanup.

The volunteers, Laura Picallo and Laura Aguinaga, found the firearm during the Astoria Park Alliance monthly shoreline cleanups.

Image: Laura Picallo

The weapon was located around a neglected area away from the Alliance’s cleanup route, according to reports. 

The gun was found in a black plastic bag and was handed over to police after the two volunteers waved down an NYPD car.

President of the Astoria Parks Alliance, Martha Lopez-Gilpin told Astoria Post “Unabashedly, I can say this has never happened before….We have protocols for finding needles, but we’ve never had a protocol for finding firearms.” 

The Astoria Park Alliance shoreline cleanups happen once a month, and park cleanups twice monthly with the next Shoreline cleanup scheduled for May 12.