43
Cops find loaded assault rifle, bulletproof vest after chase
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Police found a loaded SKS assault rifle and a bullet- proof vest after a chase early Sunday morning that started on the South Side and ended on the East Side.
It was one of two gun-related arrests police made over the weekend.
Just after midnight Sunday, an officer tried to pull over a car driven by 29-year-old Kelin Rushton of Griffith Street for running a stop sign at Gibson Street and Cornell Avenue.
The car failed to stop, however, and led police on a chase across the South Side to the East Side to Gladstone Avenue, where East Side patrol cars took over the pursuit, reports said.
They chased the car to the 1600 block of Shehy Street, where it blew a tire and ended up in a front yard. Reports said Rushton ran and was tackled by an officer in a nearby yard. He then told officers he did not have a gun but there was a gun in his car, reports said.
Inside the car, police found the rifle and the vest along with a pair of gloves. Rushton was taken to the Mahoning County jail. He faces charges of resisting arrest, improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and driving under suspension. His bond was set at $30,000 during his arraignment Monday in Municipal Court by Judge Robert Milich.
Arrested on a charge of carrying concealed weapons about 4:40 a.m. Saturday was Kyle Childs, 24, who lists addresses in Sharon, Pa., and Farrell, Pa.
An officer on patrol near a motorcycle club on Gibson Street heard several gunshots and went to investigate, reports said. When he got to the club, Childs was in a car and two men were outside and they said Childs had a gun.
Reports said the officer could see Childs reaching under the seat of the car like he was trying to hide something, reports said. Childs was taken out of the car and underneath the seat police found a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol, reports said. Officers found three spent .380-caliber shell casings at the scene.
Witnesses at the club said Childs was with a group of friends who were asked to leave because they were acting unruly, and he told bouncers that he had a gun and then he walked outside, got the gun, and fired it in the air, reports said.
He is in jail on $20,000 bond after his arraignment.