Detectives are investigating why a teenage boy had a sawed-off shotgun in his backpack following a police chase in a neighborhood that has witnessed a number of shootings this year, according to
Sgt. Michael Carroll said a juvenile was arrested Friday after he ran away from two Street Enforcement Team detectives in front of on Newark Boulevard Friday afternoon.
Neighbors identified the juvenile suspect as a 15-year-old boy, a high school freshman.
In a news release, Carroll said the boy led officers on a chase that wound through the parking lot behind the store and over the concrete wall at the border of the shopping center and the neighborhood near Lido Court.
Carroll says the boy surrendered after officers found him hiding behind a complex on Lido Boulevard.
Witnesses helped officers locate the boy’s backpack on the roof of a nearby home. Officers found a loaded, sawed-off shotgun inside the backpack, saidCarroll.
“All the officers were very appreciative of the support of residents who assisted with the recovery of a dangerous weapon,” Carroll said in the news release. “The officers and residents were very happy to have located and removed a gun in an area recently impacted by several shooting incidents.”
- On Feb. 23, officers found an 18-year-old man suffering gunshot wounds to his legs at a housing complex on Cedar Boulevard.
- On Jan. 29, paramedics treated a several times in an alley behind on Newark Boulevard.
- On Jan. 20, officers investigated a drive-by at the intersection of Haley Street and Cedar Boulevard that sent a 19-year-old man to the hospital with gunshot wounds.
