By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
A 21-year-old man who was found with an unlicensed gun that he claimed he planned to sell was yesterday sentenced to 13 months in prison.
Police arrested Jonathan Armbrister, 21, after they found a black Austrian Glock 22 in his car on December 28.
He pleaded guilty to possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition during a hearing before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes.
The prosecution said that night, officers conducting static duties on West Bay Street observed the accused driving a black Honda Fit. They then beckoned for him to stop and told him they suspected he had dangerous drugs and firearms.
While searching Armbister’s car, officers found the weapon in addition to a black magazine with 14 unfired rounds of .40 ammunition in the back passenger seat of the vehicle. Armbrister was subsequently arrested and taken to a nearby station where he admitted to the offences in an interview with police.
When asked why he had the weapon during the hearing, Armbrister told the magistrate that he was “going to sell it”.
Magistrate Forbes said he considered Armbrister’s early guilty plea and the fact that he cooperated with officers from the onset of the investigation, however, he noted that two people were just gunned down early Wednesday morning and said it appeared as if there was a “proliferation” of such crimes happening in recent times.
As a result, he sentenced Armbrister to 13 months on remand.
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