STAMFORD -- Police seized a loaded revolver Friday morning from two men driving in a West Side neighborhood plagued by recent shootings.
Officers patrolling Richmond Hill Avenue saw a BMW with windows so darkly tinted they could not see the occupants and stopped the vehicle, Sgt. Robert Shawinsky said.
When the officer came to the vehicle to check the license and registration, a strong marijuana smell poured out the window, Shawinsky said.
Police then pulled the driver Heriberto Irizarry, 21, and passenger John Spencer, 19, out of the vehicle.
Spencer, of 50 Prospect St., admitted to having four small bags of marijuana on him; when officers asked Irizarry, of 1 Southfield Ave., if there was anything illegal in the car, he said no, Shawinsky said.
But when officers looked inside the BMW, they saw a revolver handle sticking out from the passenger seat that Spencer had just been sitting in, police said.
Police determined the five-shot, .38-caliber revolver was fully loaded. There were scratch marks on its the serial number, which remained legible.
After entering the number into a nationwide database of guns, police discovered the pistol was reported stolen to Brattleboro, Vt., police on May 17, 2002, Shawinsky said.
Spencer and Irizarry were each charged with carrying a pistol without a permit, illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, illegal alteration of pistol identification numbers and stealing a firearm.
The two were held on $75,000 bond.