NORTH TONAWANDA — A North Tonawanda teen may face additional charges after his arrest Tuesday on felony weapons counts.
Members of the Tonawanda-North Tonawanda SWAT team were assisting Niagara Falls Police Criminal Investigation Division (CID) detectives in probing a “menacing incident” reported several weeks ago. Detectives had identified the 17-year-old North Tonawanda teen as their prime suspect in a case where a victim said he had been threatened with a gun.
Falls investigators had secured a search warrant for the teen’s Seventh Avenue home and requested assistance from North Tonawanda police because of the potential for guns to be in the home.
After NT’s SWAT team entered the home, they were able to take the teen into custody and conduct a search.
Police and investigators said they recovered a loaded Glock handgun, a loaded extended capacity ammunition magazine and an Airsoft gun in the teen’s bedroom. The weapons and magazine were seized and the teen was charged with second- and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, both felonies.
Under New York’s Raise the Age Law, the teen was not identified. He has been arraigned in the Youth Part of Niagara County Court and is being held in lieu of $10,000 bail at the Erie County Juvenile Detention Center in Buffalo.
Law enforcement sources said the teen is expected to face a misdemeanor menacing charge in the future.