Nassau DA creates firearms suppression unit
Ghost guns on display at a news conference in Mineola in February. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Thursday she has started a new firearms suppression unit to help stem a flow of illegal firearms into the county.
The DA's Firearms Suppression and Intelligence Unit "will utilize enhanced investigative techniques and the new ballistic capabilities" of the medical examiner's crime laboratory to determine any links among the shootings, according to a news release announcing the initiative.
Donnelly said the number of illegal guns seized in Nassau County this year has increased markedly over last year.
Through March 9 this year, 94 guns have been seized, more than double the 45 guns seized during the same time period in 2021, according to Donnelly. Fifty-one guns were seized in 2020.
It's unclear whether the number of shootings is also up this year.
"The volume of firearms that we've seized since the new year is truly staggering," Donnelly said in a statement. "We are witnessing a once-in-a-generation surge of illegal and untraceable weapons into Nassau County and too many innocent people are becoming victims of gun violence. We will use every tool at our disposal and collaborate with every federal and local partner to stem the flow of these weapons into Nassau County."
The new unit will include three prosecutors, who have training in firearms and narcotics investigations, two detective investigators and an intelligence analyst.
Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly at a news conference in Garden City in January. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
Donnelly said the majority of the firearms seized this year have out-of-state origins.
Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.
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