Buffalo police officers, with weapons drawn Wednesday, took a .22-caliber handgun with its serial number scratched off from a 16-year-old on a public bus.
Charged with felony counts of criminal possession of a weapon was Romalis D. Porter, of Montclair Avenue. He told police he found the gun in bushes at Herkimer and Breckinridge streets two days earlier, according to a police report.
“Why are you carrying it then?” one of the officers asked.
“I’m just trying to handle myself,” the teen responded, according to a report.
Acting on a tip, Officers Vincent Mancino and Joseph Ippolito boarded the bus when it was at Military Road and Hertel Avenue about 3:30 p.m. and approached two male teenagers sitting together. They roughly fit the description provided by the person who called in the tip, police said.
Mancino said in a police statement that he found the handgun, loaded with three rounds, when he patted down Porter.
Charged with felony counts of criminal possession of a weapon was Romalis D. Porter, of Montclair Avenue. He told police he found the gun in bushes at Herkimer and Breckinridge streets two days earlier, according to a police report.
“Why are you carrying it then?” one of the officers asked.
“I’m just trying to handle myself,” the teen responded, according to a report.
Acting on a tip, Officers Vincent Mancino and Joseph Ippolito boarded the bus when it was at Military Road and Hertel Avenue about 3:30 p.m. and approached two male teenagers sitting together. They roughly fit the description provided by the person who called in the tip, police said.
Mancino said in a police statement that he found the handgun, loaded with three rounds, when he patted down Porter.