Armed Man Busted On Assault Weapon Charges After Southington Raid

SOUTHINGTON, CT — A Tuesday raid on a Darling Street apartment and a separate storage unit by Southington police and state and federal authorities uncovered an arsenal and led to an armed man being booked on assault weapon charges, law enforcement officials said.

A detailed report on a search warrant for Apartment Q at 35 Darling St. in Southington was released Wednesday.

The warrant was executed by Southington Police Department with the assistance of state police, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Central Region Emergency Response Team. The search warrant was granted after police received an anonymous tip that someone was attempting to sell an assault rifle, according to a report.

The search warrant was ordered sealed by the court, but police did say that, during the operation, Quac Hao Lam, 24, of that residence, was found to be in possession of a loaded Sig Sauer semi-automatic handgun and three fully loaded magazines for the weapon in his pocket.

Lam admitted that he owned six rifles that were in a storage unit, a report indicates. He then took police to that location and gave them access to it according to a report. Inside the unit were two, 12-gauge shotguns, two, .22-caliber rifles; and one 7.62 mm rifle, according to a report. The weapons were registered to Lam, police said.

Lam was also found to have one, short-barreled AR-15 type weapon without a stock in the storage unit and the weapon had no serial number, a report indicates.

The search of the storage unit also led to the seizure of "assorted calibers" of ammunition; 11 high-capacity magazines, two boxes and two belts of shotgun shells, and four, .22 caliber magazines.

Inside Lam’s apartment were four "uncompleted assault rifle lower receiver parts," five semi automatic handguns, two Tasers, body armor, assorted high capacity magazines for handguns and a drill press and tools that can be used to work on or build firearms, according to a report.

More than 1,000 rounds of ammunition were confiscated, according to a report.

Lam was charged with:

• Possession of a handgun without a permit
• 29 counts of possession of high capacity magazines
• Possession of an assault weapon

He was held on a $250,000 bond and was to apppear in Briston Superior Court on Wednesday, police said.

Photo Credit: SPD

To sign up for Southington breaking news alerts and more, click here.