Police: Two men face firearm charges after loaded handgun flies out window in Fall River search

FALL RIVER Two men were arrested on firearm charges after Fall River detectives served a search warrant Sunday, Oct. 18, in the city's Corky Row neighborhood and a loaded handgun came flying out a first-floor window during the search, police said.

Police arrested Ailton Lopes, 24, and Keeshan Louis, 19, and listed the charges as carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a loaded firearm without a license and possession of a large capacity firearm, the Fall River Police Department said in a post on its official Facebook page Monday. The post gives one list of charges for the two arrests and does not say which charges apply to which man. Louis was also booked on an active arrest warrant, police said. The department did not give either man's hometown.

What police say happened

Detectives from the department's Community Action and Suppression Team, known as CAST, served the warrant with help from the Emergency Services Unit, police said. Investigators had received information that two people inside the building were illegally carrying a firearm, according to the department.

During the search, a Taurus G2C 9mm handgun came flying out a first-floor window, and officers recovered it, police said. It was loaded with eight live rounds in a 12-round magazine, according to the department.

The department said the gun is the 42nd illegal firearm CAST has taken off Fall River streets this year. Police said neighbors came outside during the operation and encouraged the officers.

What the charges carry

Under Massachusetts law, carrying a firearm without a license is punishable by 2 1/2 to five years in state prison, or 18 months to 2 1/2 years in a jail or house of correction, and a sentence on conviction cannot be reduced below 18 months, according to Chapter 269, Section 10(a) of the General Laws. Doing so with a loaded firearm adds up to 2 1/2 more years in a house of correction under Section 10(n).

Possessing a large capacity firearm or feeding device without a license to carry is punishable by 2 1/2 to 10 years in state prison under Section 10(m). The law defines "loaded" as ammunition in the weapon or in a feeding device attached to it.

Under Chapter 140, Section 121, a large capacity feeding device is a magazine or similar device that holds, or can readily be converted to hold, more than 10 rounds of ammunition. The definition of a large capacity firearm includes a semiautomatic firearm that can accept such a magazine when both are in the same person's possession.

The charges are accusations. Lopes and Louis are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

What happens next

The police post did not say when or where the two men would be arraigned, and it did not name a lawyer for either man. South Coast 360 will add any response from either man or a lawyer for them. The department is asking anyone with information about illegal guns or problem properties to call its anonymous tip line, 508-672-TIPS (8477), or send a message to its Facebook page, under a campaign it calls "Your City. Your Voice."

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.