Last night in Santa Rosa, police officers disrupted a scene that could have unraveled into another thread in the city’s tapestry of gun violence. The Santa Rosa Police Department released a statement detailing a confrontation in which loaded weapons were seized from individuals associated with criminal street gangs.
The encounter unfolded when officers from the Special Enforcement Team, a unit specifically formed to address rampant illegal firearm possession, observed 24-year-old Alexis Mota acting suspiciously. Mota, later found to be equipped with both a loaded gun and suspected narcotics, attempted to covertly dispose of an unidentified object, which was to quickly be revealed as a Taurus G2 9mm handgun, hidden in the wheel-well of a parked vehicle.
Following this discovery and subsequent search efforts, officers retrieved an unregistered "Poly80" 9MM handgun in possession of a juvenile who possessed a warrant for his arrest. The intervention rounded out with the arrest of Mota and the juvenile, while the remaining three subjects were released from the scene.
Mota was booked on several felony charges, including Possession of a loaded firearm in public/vehicle, Carry a concealed firearm in a vehicle, and Possession of a controlled substance while armed. Similarly, the juvenile was booked on charges, including Possession of a firearm by a juvenile, and had to face the attending issues of their outstanding warrant.
