ATF recovers multiple Glock guns with switches in Beaver County
With the help of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, law enforcement recovered a handful of Glock guns with switches, which makes them more deadly, in Beaver County last week.
Police have made one arrest so far, and the feds still need to file indictments. In all, five Glock handguns were recovered in Aliquippa and New Brighton. Four of them had switches, and new video shows just how dangerous these switches can be.
Beaver County District Attorney Nate Bible shared video from a September shooting on Wade Street in Aliquippa. You can hear fully automatic gunfire. Bible believes the shooter used a Glock gun with a switch. The victim can be heard crying, "I'm hit. I'm hit."
"It sounds like a video game when you hear it, like the old saloon," Bible said.
The suspect hasn't been arrested and the gun hasn't been recovered. The victim was shot three times but survived.
"With the Glock switches, you pull the trigger once and then the bullets just continue to come," Bible said. "So they are fired out at a much, much faster rate, and ultimately, you can fire the whole clip off in just a couple of seconds."
Bible confirmed on Thursday that the ATF recovered three Glock handguns with switches after executing a search warrant on two Aliquippa homes. One gun was found on Carroll Street, and two guns were recovered on Main Street.
"On this particular case, I know it was a couple months of investigation and ultimately they had a particular target," Bible said. "They thought this individual might have Glock switches."
The next day, county detectives, along with the New Brighton Area Police Department, executed a search warrant for a drug case at Brightwood Manor. They found drugs, cash and two Glocks. One had a switch. Police arrested Salaam Mangum.
"Ultimately, that's basically four machine gun-level handguns that we were able to get off the streets in a matter of a couple days," Bible said.
"Anytime we find them, they are always in the hands of criminals, so being able to get those off the street and hopefully prevent shootings like the one we saw in Aliquippa is a big win for us," Bible added.
The ATF released a statement, which says in part, "Machine Gun Conversion Devices or 'switches' are illegal machine guns that put bystanders in danger of being killed – owning one is a federal crime. In partnership with the Beaver County District Attorney and Detectives, and municipal police departments, we are tracking down the criminals who endanger our community with these deadly dangerous devices."
