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Secret Service Agent Left Loaded Handgun In Bathroom Of Romney Plane

A secret service agent accidentally left her gun inside the lavatory of Mitt Romney's campaign plane.

CBS News reports that the loaded gun was found by one of its reporters who was travelling with the Republican presidential nominee from Tampa to Indianapolis, Ind., where Romney was scheduled to deliver a speech.

CBS adds:

"A member of the Secret Service on board the plane was informed and retrieved the gun.

"Romney has traveled with Secret Service protection since early February and has an armed detail assigned to him at all times. His wife, Ann, was just assigned her own detail - albeit a smaller one - last Friday."

The New York Times reports that the agent was pulled from the plane and stayed in Indianapolis "to address the matter with her supervisors when Mr. Romney returned to Tampa for the remainder of the Republican National Convention."

"We are aware of the incident," Ed Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said in a statement. "We take the care and custody of our equipment, especially firearms, very seriously. This matter will be dealt with internally and in an appropriate manner."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.