Police: AR-15, Ammo Trove, Possible Ketamine In Levittown Bust

LEVITTOWN, NY — A 74-year-old Levittown man was cuffed Sunday after Nassau County police say he brandished a shotgun at two people and was caught with numerous illegal weapons — including an AR-15 and hundreds of body armor-piercing ammunition rounds — and what is believed to be vials of ketamine.

The arrest stems from an incident in which Christopher Price, 74, of 33 The Plains Rd., agreed to meet with a 31-year-old woman, whom he knew from previous drug deals, and her male friend, 50, yesterday afternoon, according to police. Price approached the pair at the nearby intersection of Shepard Lane and Market Lane just before 2 p.m. and pointed a shotgun at the pair, but then sped away in his car, prompting the woman to call 911, police said.

When Price, who was later found in his car on Constable Lane and Taylor Lane and was taken into custody, officers found a loaded shotgun as well as a vial of what police believe to be the animal anesthetic, ketamine, better known by its street name, ‘Special K.’

Altogether detectives recovered two handguns, and two assault-style long rifles — one stolen, which, they say were “illegally possessed” during a search of Price’s home, police said. At least one of the rifles was an AR-15, a police spokesman said. Also found in Price’s The Plains Road home, were numerous rounds of ammunition, including armor-piercing bullets, high capacity magazines, and an “additional amount of what is believed to be Ketamine,” police said.

The substance must still be tested in Nassau’s crime lab, according to police.

Price is charged with multiple felony and misdemeanor charges, including two counts of second-degree menacing, fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and criminal possession of a controlled substance, as well as ten counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He is additionally charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and two counts of criminal possession of a firearm, criminal possession of stolen property, and fifth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Price, who is expected to be arraigned today in Mineola, faces up to 15 years in prison based upon the top felony charge of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

The announcement of Price’s arrest was made Monday at a press conference with Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder at Nassau County Police headquarters in Mineola.