On Monday evening, an off-duty police officer noticed a car speeding on State Street and reported the vehicle. On-duty officers located the vehicle and pulled it over. The driver pulled over but abandoned the vehicle and tried to run away from officers. He was eventually arrested and is being charged with a host of offensives including; possession of a firearm without a license, possession of a large capacity firearm, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, failure to stop for police, and possession of an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle, just to name a few.
Officers recovered a high capacity handgun loaded with 30 rounds of ammunition. The suspect, 22-year-old Jayden Johnson, has a previous open firearms case from 2019.
Mayor Sarno states, “I want to applaud SPD for their quick action in locating and stopping not only this speeding vehicle, with an open container of alcohol no less, but also arresting this individual and recovering yet another high capacity firearm. Our residents and business community are now asking for our Courts to hold this individual accountable for their actions and to not be a revolving door for these types of serious criminal acts. He has been out on previous gun charges from 2019. This is his second gun related offense, however this time he was also speeding on our public streets with an open container of alcohol, not a good combination by any means. He is obviously not making good life choices or decisions and needs to be held accountable for his actions before someone is hurt or worse, someone loses their life to his immature behavior.”
“Last year, our brave and dedicated men and woman in Blue recovered a city-record 275 illegal firearms,” Mayor Sarno added. “So far this year SPD has seized over 215 illegal firearms. Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood and her dedicated team will continue to press to address these criminal activities and quality of life issues. Commissioner Clapprood has already increased SPD’s traffic enforcement and officers have issued more than 100 traffic citations this past weekend alone. Since September 1, 2021, SPD has issued over 600 speeding citations and arrested over 60 drivers for various offenses. Again, we need our Courts to support and back us up with these infractions if we are to make any serious changes in people’s behaviors.”
