Tuscaloosa faces safety threat from Glock switches, law enforcement leaders say
Law enforcement officials say a tiny device that can illegally modify a semiautomatic handgun into a fully-automatic weapon poses an increasing threat in Tuscaloosa County.
Officials with The Tuscaloosa Police Department, the U.S., Attorney's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives gathered Wednesday at the TPD headquarters to announce four arrests in a three-month joint operation designed to combat the possession of those tiny devices, known as "Glock switches."
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"This operation focused on the growing number of problems we've seen of Glock switches. These are small, inexpensive devices people use on regular handguns to turn them into machine guns," said TPD Chief Brent Blankley during the news conference.
"They're incredibly dangerous and a growing threat to public safety," he said.
Blankley said he is thankful for the partnership between Tuscaloosa police, the ATF and the U.S. Attorney's Office to help remove these dangerous firearms from the community.
In February, seven people were indicted on charges of illegal possession of the machine gun conversion devices, often referred to as Glock switches, and two people were indicted on charges involving straw purchases of firearms.
Four of those nine people were arrested, said U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona.
Escalona said these federal indictments are the result of collaborative efforts with the ATF, TPD, Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office and Tuscaloosa District Attorney's Office to identify and focus enforcement on people who illegally possess Glock switches and firearms in the Northern District of Alabama.
"Gun violence is the core of the violence that is plaguing our communities. Possession of a Glock switch by individuals is a threat to the peace and safety of our communities," Escalona said. "Our hope is that these arrests and the coming enforcement efforts across north Alabama will have a deterrent effect," she said.
Marcus Watson, ATF special agent in charge, said these dangerous firearms can be especially harmful when they fall into the wrong hands.
"In the hands of a trained shooter, it's very difficult to operate. In the hands of criminals, It just wreaks havoc on innocent people," Watson said.
The following people were arrested:
Jeremiah Deshon Kirkland, 19, of Aliceville was charged with possession of a machine gun, that is, a Glock .40 caliber pistol modified by a "Glock switch," and possession of an unregistered modified firearm.
Kemontay D. Smith, 18, of Tuscaloosa was charged with possession of a machine gun, that is, a Glock .45 caliber pistol modified by a "Glock switch"
Sebastian Jaque Brown, 19, of Tuscaloosa was charged with possession of a machine gun, that is, a Glock .45 caliber pistol and a Glock 9mm caliber pistol, modified by a "Glock switch," use of firearm during drug trafficking crime and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
Jahleo Devonta Pugh, 19, of Sawyerville was charged with possession of a machine gun, that is, a Glock .40 caliber pistol modified by a "Glock switch"
Reach Jasmine Hollie at JHollie@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tuscaloosa faces growing threat from Glock switches, leaders say
