Watch: Loaded ‘Ghost Gun’ Found Near School After Safeway Theft Stop

NAPA VALLEY, CA —Deputies discovered a loaded, non-serialized handgun in a man’s pocket near a middle school Wednesday night after stopping a suspect vehicle tied to a reported an American Canyon Safeway theft.

Just before 10:00 p.m. Feb. 25, officers with the American Canyon Police Department responded to a report of two men suspected of stealing merchandise from Safeway. When a store employee confronted them, the pair ran from the store and dropped the stolen items as they fled, American Canyon police said in a news release on social media.

Officers reviewed surveillance footage and identified the suspect vehicle. About 30 minutes later, a Napa County Sheriff's Office deputy spotted a black Hyundai Sonata on Mini Drive near Corcoran Avenue in Vallejo, adjacent to Mare Island Technology Academy Middle School.

When the driver noticed the patrol vehicle, he abruptly pulled over, stepped out, and tried to walk away. The deputy ordered him back into the car and his body camera footage shows him and an officer stopping the man.

The passenger was identified as a 40-year-old Vallejo resident. He was out on bail in Sonoma County and barred from possessing firearms as a condition of his release. During a search, officers found a loaded 9mm “ghost gun” — a non-serialized handgun — in his jacket pocket, police said.

Authorities booked him into the Napa County Department of Corrections on suspicion of six felonies and two misdemeanors including possession of ammunition by a prohibited person, felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed loaded firearm, possession of a concealed firearm in a vehicle, possession of a firearm in a school zone, possession of a non-serialized handgun, committing a felony while out on bail, and resisting, obstructing, or delaying a peace officer.