TexasCHLforum.com

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A family staying at a Sugar Land motel got something unexpected at check in; grandma found a gun under a pillow.
It happened at the Drury Inn on Southwest Freeway near Sugar Creek Boulevard. The family members are very upset about the discovery. Some are even emotional, as they can't help but think about what could have happened.

Brandy Frugia says everyone was settling in after checking in to the hotel, including their five- and nine-year-old daughters.

"Playing in the room, jumping on the beds like kids would do," Frugia said.

Just inches from the girls jumping around and playing with their games was a discovery that changed the tone of their stay.

"A gun was hidden in the bed. How did it get there? I need answers," Brand Frugia said.

Brandy's mother, Laverne Perronne, was propping up her back with some pillows.

"It felt like a gun. It was cold, and I slid it out and said, 'What is that?' And it was a gun," Perronne said.

"I came into the room and there was my mom, sitting there in shock, and there was a gun," Frugia said.

Perronne can't help but get emotion remembering how her granddaughters were playing beside her just minutes before.

"It didn't, it didn't happen, it didn't happen. Thank God it didn't happen to us," Perronne said.

Sugar Land police were called to the hotel and after looking over the gun, they determined it was a loaded 40-calibur handgun.

Drury Inn Regional Manager Brian Collins said they learned the gun belongs to a previous guest who is registered as a handgun owner and when the staff went to prepare the room, it was overlooked.

He also said they're reviewing procedures with staff at that location, notified the Corporate Safety and Security Department, apologized and will compensate the family.

"Housekeeping should be more consistent in checking the rooms and the beds, and I hope nothing like this has to happen again," Frugia said.

Sugar Land police say they still have possession of the gun, but they has no reason to open a criminal investigation at this time.

I think it disturbs me more that housekeeping obviously did not change the sheets and pillow cases after the last guest than someone accidentally leaving their gun under the pillow. That should have been found if the bed was actually changed.

Brian

Bashful wrote:Drury Inn Regional Manager Brian Collins said they learned the gun belongs to a previous guest who is registered as a handgun owner and when the staff went to prepare the room, it was overlooked.

Since when do you have to register as a handgun owner when you rent a hotel room?

BrianSW99 wrote:I think it disturbs me more that housekeeping obviously did not change the sheets and pillow cases after the last guest than someone accidentally leaving their gun under the pillow. That should have been found if the bed was actually changed.

Brian

As far as "registered" goes, I think that is just a stupid reporter trying to say the previous occupant was a CHL holder.

BrianSW99 wrote:I think it disturbs me more that housekeeping obviously did not change the sheets and pillow cases after the last guest than someone accidentally leaving their gun under the pillow. That should have been found if the bed was actually changed.

Brian

+2

AEA wrote:

BrianSW99 wrote:I think it disturbs me more that housekeeping obviously did not change the sheets and pillow cases after the last guest than someone accidentally leaving their gun under the pillow. That should have been found if the bed was actually changed.

Brian

As far as "registered" goes, I think that is just a stupid reporter trying to say the previous occupant was a CHL holder.

Ewwwwwoooo. This is why I take my own sheets when I have to stay in motels. I think it was 60 minutes that did a show on how nasty motels really are so this is no surprise. Seriously, I can imagine the scenario if the kids picked it up first. I would put housekeeping at a dismal failure rating for this and the gun owner needs some kind of way to remind himself to check for the gun location before driving out if he is that forgetful. I guess if people can forget kids in cars, they can forget guns under pillows.

MedicMan218 wrote:

BrianSW99 wrote:I think it disturbs me more that housekeeping obviously did not change the sheets and pillow cases after the last guest than someone accidentally leaving their gun under the pillow. That should have been found if the bed was actually changed.

Brian

+2

I know where I won't be staying! I don't want dirty sheets from someone else, even if they do put a pistol on my pillow instead of chocolate.

Chas.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:

MedicMan218 wrote:

BrianSW99 wrote:I think it disturbs me more that housekeeping obviously did not change the sheets and pillow cases after the last guest than someone accidentally leaving their gun under the pillow. That should have been found if the bed was actually changed.

Brian

+2

I know where I won't be staying! I don't want dirty sheets from someone else, even if they do put a pistol on my pillow instead of chocolate.

Chas.

+4

Charles L. Cotton wrote:

MedicMan218 wrote:

BrianSW99 wrote:I think it disturbs me more that housekeeping obviously did not change the sheets and pillow cases after the last guest than someone accidentally leaving their gun under the pillow. That should have been found if the bed was actually changed.

Brian

+2

I know where I won't be staying! I don't want dirty sheets from someone else, even if they do put a pistol on my pillow instead of chocolate.

Chas.

I've never found a gun in my room but I did look under the bed in one...once .

Hmm, is it standard procedure to change the sheets on a bed that appears not to have been used? You wouldn't (probably) leave the gun under a pillow on a bed that isn't made -- leaving it to housekeeping to make the bed, then replace the gun under the pillow. I would think it would happen because the gun was left under the pillow on an unused bed.

But I don't know the "standard of care" for changing sheets in hotel rooms.

sjfcontrol wrote:Hmm, is it standard procedure to change the sheets on a bed that appears not to have been used? You wouldn't (probably) leave the gun under a pillow on a bed that isn't made -- leaving it to housekeeping to make the bed, then replace the gun under the pillow. I would think it would happen because the gun was left under the pillow on an unused bed.

But I don't know the "standard of care" for changing sheets in hotel rooms.

I certainly hope they would be changed! When I was younger and traveling with my folks, Mom never left a motel room without making the beds. That didn't mean they hadn't been slept in. The argument that housekeeping would just remake them was always ignored.

Mike1951 wrote:The argument that housekeeping would just remake them was always ignored.

Justifiably so at the Drury Inn apparently

edited to correct the typo

The Annoyed Man wrote:

Bashful wrote:Drury Inn Regional Manager Brian Collins said they learned the gun belongs to a previous guest who is registered as a handgun owner and when the staff went to prepare the room, it was overlooked.

Since when do you have to register as a handgun owner when you rent a hotel room?

Poor reporting...I see this as the "previous" resident of that room, it was discovered through law enforcement investigation that they are a CHL licensee...Not that they registered as a gun owner or the like at the Drury Inn...But all of this is obvious to us, at least when I read it...

If the room had two beds, then sure I can see the CHL'er placing the gun under the pillow of the unused bed, and forgetting it...And since the bed was seens as unused by the cleaning and prep staff, then why should they do anything different??? Except it looks like "everyone" was more "upset" that there was an inanimate object in the room that if wielded in an unsafe manner "could" have been a problem, but notice that the hoplophobic nature of the press and the public worked out this time for the better good.../sarcasm

I hope the owner got their property back without too much of a lecture for their oversight...

Charles L. Cotton wrote:

MedicMan218 wrote:

BrianSW99 wrote:I think it disturbs me more that housekeeping obviously did not change the sheets and pillow cases after the last guest than someone accidentally leaving their gun under the pillow. That should have been found if the bed was actually changed.

Brian

+2

I know where I won't be staying! I don't want dirty sheets from someone else, even if they do put a pistol on my pillow instead of chocolate.

Chas.

LOL..that's what I'm thinking..
JL

I feel so cheated - of all the motels/hotels I've
stayed at, not a one left a nice .40 under the pillow
for me.

As Linda Ronstadt sang - "Poor, poor pitiful me." :-)

SIA