Police make pot, weapons bust by Lake Merritt
on September 14, 2009
Oakland Police announced today that they had discovered four adult marijuana plants, small bags of marijuana, and eleven firearms, including assault weapons, at an apartment on Lakeshore Avenue.
Oakland police officer Deandre Vantree arrived at the residence after OPD was alerted by a phone call reporting the sound of gunfire, police spokesman Jeff Thomason told reporters this afternoon.
According to Thomason, a witness outside the apartment told police that gunfire broke a second-story window around 9:30 AM.
Thomason said that after Vantree called for backup, police officers searched the apartment and discovered the shotgun and five-foot-tall marijuana plants.
Deonte McClendon, 33, was arrested on suspicion of weapons violations and marijuana possession and cultivation. McClendon has no prior criminal history, Thomason said. He is currently being held at North County Jail while the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) looks at the weapons.
A more in-depth search of McClendon’s apartment this morning yielded the additional firearms, said Thomason. He says police are investigating whether or not the weapons are registered to McClendon.
“They’ll see if they can find where these weapons came from, if they can trace it back to individuals,” Thomason said.
Thomason said that starting next month the OPD’s Gang and Gun Task Force, partnering with the ATF, will run a new hotline for people to phone in anonymous tips for police to investigate.
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