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Police seize stash of illegal firearms
By Brad Petrishen
GateHouse News Service
Posted Jul 15, 2009 @ 12:00 PM
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Police seize stash of illegal firearms
By Brad Petrishen
GateHouse News Service
Posted Jul 15, 2009 @ 12:00 PM
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WINCHESTER — Winchester police seized a stockpile of illegal firearms and 39 “edged weapons” from a home on Harvard Street after multiple neighboring residents reported hearing gunshots last weekend.
Police responded to a call of suspected gunshots at 68 Harvard St. at 8 p.m. Sunday evening. According to the incident report, all the windows of the suspect’s home were covered, no lights were on inside and no noise was emanating from within.
One officer knocked on the side door and took cover at the northwest corner of the house, while two other officers were deployed at the front and east sides, according to the report.
A few minutes after the knock, police reported that the suspect, 63-year-old Thomas Collins, opened the door and started to emerge, at which time police drew their weapons and ordered him to show them his hands. After having him turn around to ensure he was not armed, police said they placed him in handcuffs and asked whether he had recently fired a gun or lit off fireworks in the area.
According to the report, Collins reported that he had not taken either action, but allowed police to search his home.
Police said Collins appeared to be intoxicated, as his speech was slurred, his eyes red and glassy and he smelled of alcohol.
Prior to entering the home, they asked Collins if he had any firearms inside, to which he replied that he had one rifle in his closet, but was unable to produce an FID card or firearm license.
Upon searching the home, police found five rifles, a shotgun, a pistol and a large plastic box filled with ammunition in an unsecured closet outside the man’s bedroom.
A loaded .380 semi-automatic pistol was also found on the kitchen table, and upon closer inspection, two gunshot holes were observed in the kitchen ceiling directly above the area in which the handgun was found.
A total of 39 edged weapons were also found in the house, including knives of varying lengths, a machete, a hand ax and a sword.
According to the report, all the weapons were seized and taken to the station, where they had to be placed in a cell because they would not all fit in an evidence locker.
After admitting that he had fired one round in his home, Collins was arrested and charged with two counts of discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, disturbing the peace, seven counts of improper storage of a firearm and seven counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.
After being transported to the station, Collins began screaming and crying, and was transported to Winchester Hospital for a psychological evaluation, police said.
Multiple neighbors told police that Collins had been acting strangely all day, making loud noises for quite some time and at one point started screaming about the Vietnam War, police wrote in their report.
One witness reported hearing him say he “wasn’t going down this way,” and others confirmed hearing screaming about 15 minutes before the gunshots.
Police responded to a call of suspected gunshots at 68 Harvard St. at 8 p.m. Sunday evening. According to the incident report, all the windows of the suspect’s home were covered, no lights were on inside and no noise was emanating from within.
One officer knocked on the side door and took cover at the northwest corner of the house, while two other officers were deployed at the front and east sides, according to the report.
A few minutes after the knock, police reported that the suspect, 63-year-old Thomas Collins, opened the door and started to emerge, at which time police drew their weapons and ordered him to show them his hands. After having him turn around to ensure he was not armed, police said they placed him in handcuffs and asked whether he had recently fired a gun or lit off fireworks in the area.
According to the report, Collins reported that he had not taken either action, but allowed police to search his home.
Police said Collins appeared to be intoxicated, as his speech was slurred, his eyes red and glassy and he smelled of alcohol.
Prior to entering the home, they asked Collins if he had any firearms inside, to which he replied that he had one rifle in his closet, but was unable to produce an FID card or firearm license.
Upon searching the home, police found five rifles, a shotgun, a pistol and a large plastic box filled with ammunition in an unsecured closet outside the man’s bedroom.
A loaded .380 semi-automatic pistol was also found on the kitchen table, and upon closer inspection, two gunshot holes were observed in the kitchen ceiling directly above the area in which the handgun was found.
A total of 39 edged weapons were also found in the house, including knives of varying lengths, a machete, a hand ax and a sword.
According to the report, all the weapons were seized and taken to the station, where they had to be placed in a cell because they would not all fit in an evidence locker.
After admitting that he had fired one round in his home, Collins was arrested and charged with two counts of discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, disturbing the peace, seven counts of improper storage of a firearm and seven counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.
After being transported to the station, Collins began screaming and crying, and was transported to Winchester Hospital for a psychological evaluation, police said.
Multiple neighbors told police that Collins had been acting strangely all day, making loud noises for quite some time and at one point started screaming about the Vietnam War, police wrote in their report.
One witness reported hearing him say he “wasn’t going down this way,” and others confirmed hearing screaming about 15 minutes before the gunshots.
![[hmmm]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/009.gif "Hmm [hmmm]")
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When having just accidentally discharging a gun right before the police show up and you have no license for any guns, definate no.![[wink]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/002.gif "Wink [wink]")
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