Niles teen with gun was leaving restaurant as police arrived
Staff report
NILES
A young Niles man was shown on a Facebook video Tuesday night reciting a raplike discourse in the North Main Street McDonald’s, then pulling out a handgun, nearly leaving the restaurant before police arrived.
A Niles police report says Capt. Jaisan Holland and two officers responded to the restaurant at 9:08 p.m. after Holland viewed a video Justin S. Riley, 18, of North Main Street purportedly posted on his Facebook page a short time earlier.
The video shows Riley in a hat mugging for the camera as he raps some profanity-laced and anti-police lines about how he had come to “grab some grub, bro.”
Holland, who was alerted to the video, responded to the restaurant with other officers because of the weapon.
As the officers approached the restaurant entrance, they found Riley and a 16-year-old male walking out the north doors.
The two other officers asked Riley to return to the restaurant and sit in a booth, where Holland found him when he arrived from the other side of the restaurant.
When Holland asked Riley to stand up to be searched, Riley “began to verbally protest about his rights and moved his hands,” according to a Niles police report.
Holland moved quickly toward Riley because of the gun he suspected Riley was carrying, “grabbed the suspect by his neck and arm, pushing him back into the booth seat,” the report says.
As the officers brought Riley under control, a pistol containing four live rounds fell from Riley’s pants and onto the floor.
A metal marijuana grinder containing suspected marijuana residue was found in Riley’s pants pocket, the police report says. The juvenile was wanted by the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center, where he was taken by police. Riley was booked into the county jail.
Riley was arraigned Wednesday in Niles Municipal Court on a felony carrying a concealed weapon charge. He will be arraigned on a misdeanor resisting arrest charge at 8 a.m. Wednesday, his next court appearance, according to court records.
Riley was not required to enter a plea on the felony, and he was released after posting $5,000 bond.