MANSFIELD — No arrests were made Thursday after Mansfield police confiscated several weapons from a vehicle on the square.
An incident report from the Mansfield Police Department states an officer initiated a traffic stop at around 3:10 p.m. on Thursday. The patrolling officer observed a tan Ford Taurus operating with an expired license plate.
According to the report, the officer had prior knowledge of firearms inside of the vehicle.
The police report states there were three men, all Mansfield residents, in the car. Richland Source is not identifying the men, as no charges have been filed at the time of publication.
Police asked the driver if there were weapons in the car. The driver, who has several felony convictions, informed officers of a firearm in the backseat.
Officers detained the three men while they searched the vehicle and spoke with employees of Mansfield Sporting Arms, a gun shop located on the square.
Police collected a 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun, two shotgun magazines, ammunition and a pistol, as well as an “unknown brown substance” in a bag from the vehicle.
According to the police report, employees from Mansfield Sporting Arms said the driver and one of the passengers attempted to trade in two firearms. The shop couldn’t run background checks because neither party had a valid driver’s license.
Store manager Chad Monroe declined to discuss his interaction with the men on the record, but said he advised them to go to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles to renew the license.
When they returned, police “surrounded” the vehicle.
“There was like, three cop cars from the left and then another few from the right. They had them out on their hands and knees,” Monroe said.
Faith Doyln, an employee at the Coney Island Inn, said about five or six police cars arrived and several officers had guns pulled.
“I didn’t really see them get pulled over or anything. I just saw a bunch of officers pulling up,” she said. “They ended up letting all three people go.”
Police ultimately issued the driver a traffic citation and released all three parties without making an arrest.
The driver has several felony convictions dating back to 2009, including burglary, receiving stolen property, forgery, having weapons while under disability, improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle and possession of cocaine, according to the county’s online court docket.
Capt. Chad Brubaker of the Mansfield Police Department was not on the scene, but said it’s likely no arrests were made because police didn’t have evidence that the weapons belonged to driver — who is not allowed to possess firearms due to his prior convictions.
Neither of the vehicle’s other two passengers have felony convictions listed in the Richland County Court Docket.
“If (the driver) would have been alone in the vehicle, he would have had less of an argument that ‘This isn’t mine, it’s my buddy’s,” Brubaker said.
Brubaker said no charges have been filed yet, but further investigation of the incident and potential charges may come based on the results from the crime lab and the Richland County Prosecutor’s Office’s review.
Brubaker also clarified that at this time, there’s no evidence to indicate the weapons involved were stolen.
“If the officers know that, it would have been in the report,” he said.
