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Police find guns in separate traffic stops
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Police found two guns in two traffic stops Thursday.
About 10:35 p.m. officers tried to pull over a car driven by Edward Thomas, 32, on East Lucius Avenue for loud music. Reports said the car slowed down on Albert Street, then accelerated and did not pull over until it got to Republic and Commonwealth avenues. Reports said the car smelled heavily of marijuana, and they asked Thomas and a passenger, Terey Green, 19, of South Hazelwood Avenue, to get out for a search once officers saw a marijuana grinder inside where Green was sitting.
When Green got out of the car officers found a loaded .357-Magnum revolver that a records check later revealed had been stolen in Niles. Green denied the gun was hers, but she was booked into the Mahoning County jail on charges of improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle, possession of marijuana for a small amount of marijuana in her purse and receiving stolen property.
Thomas was taken into custody on a warrant, a charge of driving under suspension and a charge of failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer.
About 7:55 p.m., officers working near the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority property on the East Side pulled over a car driven by Quentin Reynolds, 30, of Kimmel Street, for running a stop sign. Reports said his car smelled heavily of marijuana, and when police asked him if he had anything illegal, Reynolds told them he had a gun for protection because he had been shot once.
Police searched him and found a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and eight bags of suspected marijuana. He was booked into the jail on charges of trafficking in drugs, driving under suspension and carrying a concealed weapon.