A man was caught with a loaded AR-15 semiautomatic rifle in a suitcase in Brooklyn earlier this month, prosecutors said.
The man, identified as Anthony Morgan, was seen walking down the sidewalk near the intersection of Marcy Avenue and Halsey Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant rolling a suitcase with the rifle sticking out about 10:40 p.m., according to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. district attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York.
When officers responded, Morgan tried to pull the gun out of the bag, but it was stuck, the complaint says. Morgan then allegedly threw the bag with the gun at one of the officers and fled.
The officers pursued Morgan, arrested him and secured the bag. The rifle had a bump stock attachment affixed to it and there was ammunition in the suitcase, the officers said.
After he was taken into custody, Morgan said he had been “jumped” at a party the night before and was planning to go back to where he was robbed to use the gun, according to the complaint.
A national ban on bump stocks goes into effect on Tuesday as U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts rejected a request to delay implementation of the policy. However, lower courts have not yet ruled on appeals brought by gun rights activists in Michigan and the U.S. capital.
With Reuters
