Grandmother Finds Loaded Gun on Animal Kingdom Ride: Deputies

An attendant of the Dinosaur ride said that on Sunday at 12:15 p.m. a woman handed her a gun, which turned out to be a Cobra 380 Caliber automatic.

A grandmother found a loaded gun on the seat of a ride at Disney World's Animal Kingdom on Sunday, an Orange County Sheriff's Office incident report said.

An attendant of the Dinosaur ride said that on Sunday at 12:15 p.m. a woman handed her a gun, which turned out to be a Cobra 380 Caliber automatic, containing five hollow point bullets, the report said. And then a boy who was with the woman said, "my grandma found it on her seat," the report said.

The attendant called her manager, who in turn told Disney security and the sheriff's office. Disney security responded and gave the weapon to an off-duty turnstile deputy, who then unloaded it, the report said.

When authorities responded to the incident, the off-duty deputy was with another man, identified as Angelo Lista, from Royal Palm Beach. He gave them his Florida driver's license and a valid concealed weapons permit, the report said.

Lista told authorities he had arrived earlier with his family and had gone through the security check area, but the gun was in his back pocket, so the issue never came up, the report said. Lista said he didn't know he was supposed to tell Disney security he had a gun because it wasn't posted.

"Angelo thought that the bag check was being conducted only to search for bombs or explosives and did not know people were not allowed to bring guns," the report said.

Lista told authorities that he thinks the gun fell out of his back pocket on the ride because the ride was "extremely bumpy," the report said.

Upon realizing the gun wasn't in his pocket, he went back to the ride and then to the area where people were getting off the ride trying to get the gun back, the report said.

"Angelo said he would comply and was very apologetic for what happened," the report said.

Lista was asked to leave the property for the rest of the day, and the gun was confiscated for safe keeping. He was told he could pick it up from the sheriff's office evidence department.

The sheriff's office said the case was closed.

"Guns are not permitted on Walt Disney World property. As soon as we became aware of the situation, we notified the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, which took possession of the gun. The guest was escorted to his car and not allowed to return," Disney spokeswoman Kathleen Prihoda said in an email statement.

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