The New Haven Police Department has seized nine so-called ghost guns this year, which is almost three times the number seized by this time a year ago.
Although police have these guns in their possession, it’s difficult to find who they belong to because of their nature. Police Sergeant John Finch said ghost guns consist of all different parts that people then put together, which makes them hard to track.
“The biggest part of tracing is through our e-trace and our tracing systems,” Finch said. “Without a serial number, we don’t have the ability to do that.”
Interim Police Chief Renee Dominguez said two ghost guns were taken into police custody last week. Dominguez said one was taken from a car that police stopped after the driver allegedly fled from officers the night before.
The latest ghost gun was seized when an FBI task force officer followed a tip from an East Haven officer that said a man allegedly had a gun at a party. The task force found the ghost gun in his car, along with heroin.
Dominguez said that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is involved with her department and they have task force officers working alongside the federal agency.
“Captain Heely is also trying to find any commonalities between the nine guns so if we can find out where they’re coming from or the pieces that are on the guns might be able to be linked together for further investigation,” Dominguez said.
Police said they are hopeful that once they find out this information, they might be linked together for further investigations.
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