A gun issued to Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Lupe Valdez while she was Dallas County sheriff seven years ago wasn’t returned and remains missing.
The Dallas Morning News reports Valdez was given a 9mm Beretta pistol in 2011, when her gun of the same model malfunctioned.
The sheriff’s department said in a statement Monday “the firearm is considered missing.” It provided few details, but the newspaper cited a July sheriff’s department report saying, “It is likely that this weapon could have been stolen or misplaced during Sheriff Valdez’s moving transition.”
Valdez campaign spokesman Juan Bautista Dominguez says his candidate is working with the sheriff’s department “to locate the firearm.”
Valdez left her post in December to run for governor. She’s considered a longshot against well-funded Republican Greg Abbott.
