GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Over the weekend, Grand Rapids Police conducted a high-risk traffic stop that resulted in the seizure of four handguns, two assault style rifles and several rounds of ammunition.
Police Chief Eric Winstrom says two plainclothes officers spotted individuals who were clearly concealing guns enter a car. They did a traffic stop, and found every person in the car had a gun.
Winstrom explained that there were six illegally-possessed guns in that one traffic stop. These individuals are not from the area, and it is unknown what their intentions were, but the same team also confiscated two other illegally-owned guns from a separate traffic stop in the same night.
While 213 illegal firearms have been taken off the streets by GRPD so far this year, Winstrom is proud of the work these officers had done Saturday night.
"A small team of downtown officers to recover eight illegally possessed guns in one incident just in downtown Grand Rapids and Saturday night, it was really remarkable," he said. "I think it speaks to the fact that we have seen such a significant drop in violence, and we hope to keep that up."
He adds that individuals coming to Grand Rapids from outside to city to do illegal behavior has happened before. He says that there is criminal history among the suspects.
"You have four people willing to commit felonies all together at the same time, in a vehicle driving around downtown Grand Rapids, is a recipe for disaster," Winstrom said.
"So, having the officers to do that proactive police work puts those type of people on notice that Grand Rapids is not the place that you want to come to if you're going to come down here and look into committing crime."
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