WASHINGTON, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- A Washington man says he ordered a flat-screen television through Amazon.com and instead received a military style assault rifle.
Seth Horvitz, 38, a musician from San Francisco who moved to Washington a year ago, told The Washington Post he was alone getting ready for a dinner party at his Brookland apartment when he heard a knock at the door. A UPS man had left a package outside.
He had ordered the TV set for $324 from a third-party seller through Amazon. He told the Post he thought the package might be TV accessories.
But Horvitz got a surprise when he opened the package and found a "tactical military-style SIG716 semiautomatic rifle ... with an empty magazine for 7.62x51mm ammunition" and an owner's manual from German arms company Sig Sauer, the Post said.
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Horvitz, who said he's never handled a weapon before, said an invoice with the gun showed it was meant to be sent to a Pennsylvania gun shop. Horvitz and his guests had their dinner party, looking at and discussing the assault rifle.
The Post said he called police, who came by a week later and drove off with the weapon.
"I definitely knew it was a mistake," Horvitz told the Post. "But I was confused as to how that kind of mixup could happen. Especially given the recent events, the recent shootings. It surprised me to see how easy it would be for a gun to show up on someone's doorstep -- not just a gun, but an assault weapon."
The Post said Amazon did not respond to calls for comment. Horvitz said he still wants his TV.
