Thousands of illegally-owned guns, firearms used in crime seized a year in the Miami Valley

Law enforcement is revealing the staggering number of illegal guns they’ve removed in continued efforts to keep people safe.

The seizure of illegal firearms is happening thousands of times a year in the Miami Valley.

Last year the Dayton Police Department alone seized 1,041 guns either used in crimes or carried by someone not legally allowed to have them. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s seized 431 firearms and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office seized 88 illegal firearms in 2023 as well.

>> Woman finds man dead inside car near funeral home in Springfield

These illegally obtained firearms have been used in recent crimes in the Miami Valley, like in Montgomery County on Feb. 1. It was then that Montgomery County SWAT teams and hostage negotiators moved into a Harrison Twp. apartment complex looking for a man reportedly firing shots in an apartment.

They would eventually convince the man, John Duke, Sr. to come outside peacefully. Investigators learned no one had been shot, but that Duke had been previously convicted of crimes that banned him from possessing weapons.

Story continues

TRENDING NOW

LATEST LOCAL NEWS