KTLA LAPD and ATF officials recover over a 1,000 guns during the search of a Bel-Air home.
On Wednesday, officials investigating the illegal selling and manufacturing of weapons reported over 1,000 guns and firearms were recovered from a home in Bel-Air, California. Members of the Los Angeles Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were working together after obtaining a search warrant for the $7 million home in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in LA.
In the aerial video from KTLA Sky5 News, federal agents and police examine thousands of guns laid out in a courtyard area of the home, which is located right up the street from the iconic Playboy Mansion, and just east of the home where Michael Jackson died. “This is a big stash,” LAPD Lieutenant Chris Ramirez said. “It’s beyond comprehension that somebody can have so many weapons in a residence like this, in a neighborhood like this.”
Ramirez said they recovered gun of all makes, calibers and models, along with more than 1,000 rounds of live ammunition. Ramirez added that the weapons will be itemized and booked into evidence. One man was arrested inside the house for the crime of selling, possessing or transporting illegal assault weapons. The suspect in custody was later identified by the police as Girard Damien Saenz, 57.
It’s unknown if Saenz was a squatter, or had permission to live in the home. Police are currently holding him on $50,000 bail. TMZ reported that the owner of house, Cynthia Beck, a former mistress of Gordon Getty, one of the wealthiest men in the world, and with whom she shares three children, hasn’t lived there in years. Two of the three vehicles in the driveway are registered to Beck, but the cops said it’s currently unknown whether or not she has any connection to the investigation, the weapons, or the search warrant.
The ATF said, “Pursuant to an anonymous tip ATF and LAPD became aware of an individual conducting illegal firearms transactions outside the scope of the federal firearm license that the individual possesses,” along with the assurance that the public is not in any immediate danger.
LAPD said that the man detained inside the home in the 100 block of North Beverly Glen was “cooperating with authorities.” The Bel-Air mansion which last sold in 2001, is an 8,200-square-foot, five-bedroom home, and sits in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Southern California.
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