City police have seized a loaded pistol fitted with a device meant to convert it to an automatic from a semi-automatic.
Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon noted police have made public a “few incidents” in the past year where an automatic weapon was later taken into evidence.
“This is concerning. Modified firearms can be extremely unpredictable and not only lethal to the public but also to the operator,” she said Monday.
When the trigger is pulled on an automatic firearm, the mechanism can continuously fire until all bullets loaded in the magazine are expended; in semi-automatic firearms, one pull of the trigger fires one bullet.
Police reported finding the gun — a semi-automatic 9-mm pistol with an auto sear and overcapacity magazine, and an obliterated serial number — in a vehicle pulled over by the canine unit near Notre Dame Avenue and Alverstone Street at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
A 15-year-old from Winnipeg is facing numerous weapons and drug charges. An 18-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman also face weapons charges.
Police allege the 15-year-old shot at a moving vehicle in a Main Street beer vendor’s parking lot Friday evening, before fleeing in the suspect vehicle stopped Saturday.
