SALINA, Kansas – A pond located in a Salina park has become a notorious dumping ground – not just for trash but for disposing evidence.Guns found rusted and waterlogged are now in the hands of police. Now it’s wondered what they were all doing at the bottom of the Indian Rock Pond."We've had several reports recently and we've had some high-profile cases and we thought it was important at this time,” said Deputy Chief Carson Mansfield with the Salina Police Department.Important enough to drain Indian Rock Pond and that’s exactly what police and city crews have been up to in search of evidence.Most of Indian Rock Pond was drained by city crews last Wednesday. Then the Saline County Mounted Patrol and Rescue Squad used their boat and a waterproof metal detector to search the pond's bottom.They found three guns. One of them, a .22 caliber handgun, is currently being processed in connection with a criminal investigation and had been reported stolen. A revolver and sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun were also found.“The ownership of this shotgun is illegal, so we know that at least some of these weapons are tied in with crimes and we've got our work cut out for us,” Mansfield said.When the firearms were disposed of in the pond is unknown, but police have been able to confirm the manufacturers of all three guns. As for the pond, Salina Parks and Recreation plans to clean it up and make it more accessible to residents.“It's unfortunate that one of our parks gets used like this and with what they had uncovered is even more shocking,” said Brian Underwood with the Salina Parks and Recreation Department.Time will tell if the draining of Indian Rock Pond does any good for the public park or explain how three guns ended up sleeping with the fishes.The City of Salina says this is the first time the Indian Rock Pond has been drained.
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