SAVANNAH, GA (March 25, 2016): The Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police Department arrested 21 people and recovered 47 firearms from March 16 to 24.
This combined effort, independent of recent federal arrests, consisted of St. Patrick’s Day festival officers, uniformed patrol officers, detectives, and undercover investigators.
“This is a huge win for the citizens of Savannah,” said Capt. Ashley Brown, Violent Crimes Task Force commander. “The majority of these guns and arrests came from neighborhoods on the east side of Savannah where we have identified specific individuals and groups involved in gun violence. We are focusing our efforts on these violent offenders and we will take them off of our streets.”
More than 40 criminal charges associated with the 21 arrests include: murder, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, criminal attempt at armed robbery, possession of a firearm by a minor, theft by receiving stolen firearm, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and carrying a concealed weapon. Additional charges are pending investigation.
Currently, four of the guns have been confirmed as stolen with the remainder of weapons being investigated.
“We are focusing our efforts on removing illegal guns and violent offenders from the streets of Savannah,” said Maj. Richard Zapal, Criminal Investigations Division commander. “By reducing the number of firearms in the streets, we hope to reduce the violent crime in the community and put these criminals behind bars.”
So far for 2016, SCMPD has taken 236 firearms off of the street — 94 more firearms than were seized during the first quarter of 2015.
Anyone with information about illegal firearms is encouraged to call CrimeStoppers at (912) 234-2020 or text CRIMES (274637) using the keyword CSTOP2020. Tipsters remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward.
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