JB's testimony varies a little bit, but generally, he made it safe, and left outside the kitchen, but the boots in the hallway.
However, on the night in question he is alleged to have told the officers on the scene that he had left it on the table, loaded.
That may be a false recollection, or equally it may have been erroneous on JB's part, or a deliberate exaggeration, either from genuine concern to progress matters quickly, or from a more sinister attempt to paint a picture of increasingly probable tragedy.