Weapons arsenal found in NYC man’s car amid increased terror threat
Fox News’ Bryan Llenas reports that police discovered the ‘disturbing cache of weapons’ and indications of a possible terror attack found during a routine traffic stop.
New York police have arrested a heavily armed man who was pulled over for a traffic stop in Queens and reportedly shared extremist views online.
Judd Sanson, 27, was arrested Wednesday on multiple illegal weapons charges after police recovered a 9-millimeter Glock handgun, nine loaded magazines, heavy body armor, handcuffs, NYPD uniform items, two axes, multiple knives, a stun gun, a weighted whip and an expandable baton from his vehicle.
"Members of this department make gun arrests, weapons arrests, arrests for knives every day, but an arrest of this magnitude, the amount of ammunition, NYPD paraphernalia in the car was significant," Chief of Department Jeffrey B. Maddrey told reporters.
Police also recovered a Guys Fawkes mask, which is sometimes used as an anti-government symbol, and an orange MTA vest.
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Officers conducted a vehicle stop in Queens and recovered a 9-milimeter Glock handgun along with 9 loaded magazines, heavy body armor, handcuffs, NYPD uniform items, two axes, multiple knives, a weighted whip and an expandable baton. ( NYPD NEWS)
The New York Post reported several troubling messages were etched into the baton, including, "You left me no choice, I am sorry, You gon [sic] learn today," and the Arabic word for, "God forgive me." The report cited police sources who said Sanson allegedly expressed extremist views online.
According to NYPD, on Wednesday at around 1:30 a.m. officers observed a black Ford Explorer with a blacked-out license plate in the vicinity of 86th Street and Ditmars Blvd. Police described the SUV as a "ghost vehicle."
Officers conducted a traffic stop and upon investigation, discovered the driver had the arsenal with him in the vehicle.
Suspect Judd Sanson, 27, was arrested on charges of criminal possession of a loaded firearm, nine additional charges of criminal possession of a weapon, four charges of unlawful possession of ammo feed device and one charge of having an obscured license plate.
Maddrey identified Sanson as the suspect and said he gave a Queens address as his residence, which the department is working to confirm.
"We will continue to investigate this incident," Maddrey said. "Our members are out there, 1:30 in the morning, members of our public safety team, while many people were sleeping. I was sleeping. Our officers are out there to make sure that we are safe."
NYPD Chief Jeffrey Maddrey holds press conference to announce arrest of Judd Sanson, 27, on multiple weapons charges. (WABC)
Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said that to date, NYPD have taken 683 ghost vehicles off the streets this year and 2,875 vehicles with paper license plates.
The deputy commissioner noted that NYPD is seeing an uptick in individuals that are committing shootings, robberies, burglaries and home invasions. At times, suspects will use stolen vehicles to commit these crimes, and about 80% of the time those vehicles have a license plate cover, he told reporters.
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"Sometimes I feel that being a police officer is a thankless job. I feel like the officers don't get the credit and the acknowledgment that they deserve from making these types of arrests," Daughtry said.
Police are investigating why the suspect had his license plate covered and what was his intent with all the weapons confiscated. Authorities did not confirm whether there was any terrorist threat involved.
"Given what was in there, something very bad was potentially averted," an officer told the Post. "The intent is still under investigation. The sum of the parts had the potential for something awful."
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