The smell of marijuana coming from vehicles that were pulled over by Richmond police officers resulted in the seizure of illegal guns in three separate incidents over the weekend.
The first incident occurred Friday, Sept. 20 at about 10 p.m., when an officer who was making a traffic stop due to a code violation noticed the smell of cannabis coming from the vehicle. This prompted a search of the car. One of the four passengers was holding a bag that contained a stolen firearm, according to police.
Then on Saturday, Richmond police pulled over a vehicle for allegedly running a red light. An officer again noticed a strong odor of marijuana coming from the car, with marijuana in plain view, leading to a search. Officers located a loaded firearm that had been illegally modified to shoot fully automatic, police said.
On Sunday, officers approached a suspicious vehicle parked in a closed business district and again smelled and saw marijuana. Upon learning that police would search the car, one occupant fled but was taken into custody. He possessed a loaded firearm in his waistband, according to police.
None of the suspects or officers were injured during the three incidents.
