Police: Ghost guns found in home of man who died in Center Township police vehicle
CENTER TWP. – State police are investigating an incident in the community where a man died of a gunshot wound in a police cruiser and whether he might have been involved in the distribution of untraceable firearms.
Beaver County District Attorney David Lozier released a statement saying the 44-year-old male, whose name has not been released, set off the firearm while in the cruiser Friday afternoon on Brodhead Road near Pleasant Drive on the way to the Center Township Police Station.
Officers had taken the man into custody after serving a search warrant just after noon in the 200 block of Geneva Drive. According to a release from Center police, they were at the house to search for firearms the man was not supposed to possess and he greeted officers at the door brandishing a handgun before he was taken into custody. It is unclear how he was able to get to a gun in the cruiser to apparently shoot himself.
Center police reported they remained at the home for 13 hours with assistance from Beaver County Detectives and federal Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents and seized 109 items, including assault rifles, a functioning machine gun and several handguns and types of ammunition. During a second search the following morning, police said they also found five 3-D printers police said they suspect were used to make so-called ghost guns, which are privately assembled and untraceable.
Because local police were involved in the fatal incident, the death investigation was turned over to state police. No officers involved in the incident have been identified. An investigation also now is underway into whether what was found in the home might be connected to the distribution of ghost guns and parts, police said.
This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Man dies from gunshot wound in Center Township police cruiser.
