A crew member on the set of Law & Order: Los Angeles — filming on-location in Ballona Creek — found a gun as he waded through some water. Big deal. Indeed, he thought it was a prop.

Nope. Real-deal, semiautomatic weapon, according to the Wall Street Journal. Executive producer Jill Danton explained how it went down:

Actors work in "Ballona Creek."; Credit: NBC

Actors work in “Ballona Creek.”; Credit: NBC

A camera operator “yelled, 'Look, that looks like a gun.' Oh, look, a fake gun' and he tosses it over the concrete … “

An off-duty cop working on-set did a double take and ID'd the gun as a real pistol

The WSJ states that Culver City police will test the gun to see if it can be matched to unsolved crimes.

Good work, Law & Order. By the way, the episode they were taping is called “Ballona Creek” and aired Wednesday night.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.