RACINE, Wis. — Dozens of gun parts and ammo were found in two homes in Racine over the weekend. Racine police chief Maurice Roberts said this all started when a man called police, saying someone drove by his West Racine home and shot at him several times.
Officers later found the suspected shooter and six shell casings inside his car. The driver, who TMJ4 is not identifying because he has not been criminally charged, along with two others were arrested.
"The Racine Police Department's Violent Crimes Task Force executed a search warrant to determine whether or not we could find a weapon at the time. We had shell casings but not the weapon," said Chief Roberts.
Officers say when they got inside the driver's apartment along North Memorial Drive they found manufacturing parts for AR-15s, shotguns, magazines, and ammunition.
"We know he was in the process of manufacturing. What we wonder now is how many had he actually manufactured that are out on the streets," said Chief Roberts.
A neighbor who has lived across from the complex for more than 20 years, who did not want to be identified, said he was shocked to find out what had happened.
"We noticed a couple of police officers bringing a lot of the items out and I noticed one had a carriage package or a pouch that they use for rifles," he said.
Homicide rates have already doubled this year in Racine compared to last year. Police say an arrest like this is huge for the city.
"I've been wondering all along with all the guns that we are recovering. We've recovered over 100 guns this year already, where are they coming from? This may begin to answer that question itself," said Chief Roberts.
Police said they recovered "a significant cache of weapons, ammunition, and firearm-related paraphernalia was collected":
- Aero Precision AR-10 rifle
- Mossberg 500 12 gauge shotgun
- Anderson Manuf. AR-15 300 AAC rifle
- Anderson Manuf. AF-15 multi-cal. Rifle
- AR-15 300 AAC rifle- Ghost Gun
- Remington 700 300 Win Mag Sniper Configuration rifle
- Smith and Wesson Compass 308 rifle
- Mossberg 500 .410 gauge shotgun
- Marlin Model 60 .22LR rifle
- .45 Glock handgun and pistol magazines (3-13 round capacity/ 2-30 round capacity)
Officials said they also recovered 18 80% lowers, 2 Anderson stripped AR-15 lowers, and boxes of tools and spare parts.
Racine police said "it's clear" that they were manufacturing weapons inside one of their homes, and said their arrests are significant given the level of gun violence in Racine in 2022.
