GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — What started out as a traffic stop resulted in the seizure of multiple illegal firearms Thursday night.
At 8 p.m. Thursday, the Grand Rapids Police Department responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle in the 300 block of Beulah Street SE. Based upon information provided by the caller, multiple police cruisers responded. As they approached the vehicle, two of the five occupants in the car fled, while the other three were taken into custody without incident.
Officers, including a police dog team, chased the two fleeing individuals, while a Michigan State Police helicopter helped track them. One was apprehended and taken into custody.
A total of four people — one adult woman and three adult men — were taken into custody. Two rifles, three handguns, several loaded magazines, a large quantity of ammunition and a machete also were recovered.
“We are very thankful that an alert person called the police,” said GRPD Chief Eric Winstrom. “While we can’t know the intentions of these individuals, we do know the firearms were not legally possessed. We all share the responsibility of keeping our community safe and because this caller spoke up, multiple illegally-possessed firearms are off our streets.”
The investigation is ongoing. Anybody with any information about this incident is being asked to contact Grand Rapids Police Department detectives by calling (616) 456-3380 or Silent Observer anonymously at (616) 774-2345 or at www.silentobserver.orgon the Web.
