Thursday afternoon, officers from the Valdosta Police Department’s Narcotics division recovered a handgun, rifle, and over 36 grams of cocaine off of a 15-year-old.
On October 18, 2023, at approximately 2:45 pm., detectives with the Valdosta Police Department’s Narcotics Unit were patrolling the area of Ora Lee West Homes. While patrolling, they observed a juvenile male walking through the complex holding on to a handgun that was in his front pocket.
As detectives approached the juvenile to investigate the incident, the 15-year-old male took steps leading detectives to believe he was going to run. The juvenile then turned around facing detectives and began to pull another firearm from his waistband. After complying with several verbal commands, the juvenile was detained and detectives recovered a handgun and a rifle from him.
Detectives also located over 36 grams of suspected cocaine from his pocket.
The juvenile was arrested and was charged with:
• Possession of a schedule II-(Cocaine) with the intent to distribute-felony;
• Possession of cocaine within 1000 feet of a Housing Authority-felony;
• Possession of cocaine within 1000 feet of a park-felony;
• Criminal use of an article with an altered identification mark-felony; and
• 2 counts of possession of a firearm by a person under 18 years of age-misdemeanor.
Detectives work with the Department of Juvenile Justice, who detained him at a Regional Youth Detention Center.
“The fact that a 15-year-old was walking around in a housing area with two firearms, especially while children were getting off their school buses, is alarming. This juvenile’s actions could have quickly caused a different outcome. I am extremely proud of this work by our Narcotics Detectives. There is no doubt that these detectives stopped this juvenile from committing a violent crime,” said Valdosta police chief Leslie Manahan.