Bronx Man Charged With Illegal Gun Possession: Stamford Police

Stamford CT

05 August, 2021

1:07 PM

Description

STAMFORD, CT — A Bronx man faces a series of illegal gun charges after a concerned resident alerted authorities, police said on Thursday. Shortly after 5 p.m. on Tuesday, 911 dispatch received a call from a Stamford resident who reported seeing a car parked in the area of West Main Street and the purple bridge, Capt. Richard Conklin of the Stamford Police Department said, adding that there appeared to be several males in the car passing around a handgun. Responding officers found the car empty and parked illegally, Conklin said; they also found that the licence plates did not come back as being registered to the car. During an inventory of the car before it was about to be towed, Conklin said, police found a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic handgun with a high capacity magazine in the center console. Conklin said officers found a man in the area, later identified as Daniel Rivera, 38, of the Bronx. "He stated the car belonged to a friend of his and that he had been in the car. As officers investigated, they found he had the keys to the car and had control over it," Conklin added. Rivera was arrested and charged with second-degree reckless endangerment, unsafe storage of a firearm in a car, illegal possession of a firearm in a car, illegal possession of a high capacity magazine, and possession of a handgun without a permit, Conklin said. A $50,000 bond was set, and Rivera remains in custody. "This was a very rapid response by these officers who did a good job and followed this through and made a nice weapon arrest," Conklin said. "Also we'd like to acknowledge the concerned community resident who called. That type of partnership where people are calling us goes a long way to making the community a lot safer." On the other people who might've been in the car, Conklin said Rivera "might've invited these guys into the car to show them the handgun. That seems to be what the investigation reveals." Officers are following up with security footage to see if they can identify anyone else who was in the car, Conklin noted.