Mount Vernon cops nab 6, seize guns, PCP
Photo credit: Angela Gaul | The Mount Vernon Police Department headquarters are located at 2 Roosevelt Square in downtown Mount Vernon. (May 16, 2012)
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Six people -- including a 15-year-old boy -- were arrested early Friday when Mount Vernon police raided an apartment where PCP was being sold, officials said.
The hallucinogenic drug and two guns were seized during the bust around 6 a.m. inside the private home's second-floor apartment at 254 S. 10th Ave., Mount Vernon Police Commissioner Carl Bell said at a news conference.
Officers from the Narcotics Unit and Emergency Service Unit conducted the sweep and arrested the half-dozen people who ranged in age from 15 to 36 inside the apartment, Bell said.
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One man is known to be a member of a gang called "Top Class," Bell said. Five of the six suspects were living in the apartment.
"It seemed to be more for drug activity than anything else," he said. "It was just that people just decided to sleep there."
Tips to police prompted the investigation, Bell said.
"This area had been known to us...to be frequented by a bunch of gang members who were selling guns and drugs -- more specifically, PCP," Bell said.
Bell did not disclose the types of guns recovered or a specific amount of the drugs, but added that the illegal substance has been popping up more frequently.
"A lot of our warrants have involved PCP lately, so we have seen a resurgence of that, which might add to some of these delirious shootings."
Six people have been shot this week, two of them fatally.
"It's about our emphasis in reducing guns on our city streets. So, we're actually actively looking and pursuing investigations involving guns and drugs and it's just an effort to get guns off the street and identify different groups that are more prone to violence," Bell said.
"We try to get them before they get started."
