Castleton 16-year-old charged with robbing handgun from other teen
NORTH GREENBUSH, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The North Greenbush Police Department reported the arrest of a 16-year-old from Castleton following a weapons investigation. The teen, whose name will not be released due to their age, is facing multiple felony charges.
On October 17, police initiated an investigation after seeing a social media post in which a 14-year-old Columbia High School student had uploaded images of himself holding an illegal handgun. Upon identifying and interviewing the teen at his residence in the Eagle Rock apartment complex, the minor reportedly told police that not only had he stolen the gun from a home in Troy, but he had since been robbed of the weapon by another teen on October 15.
Further investigation led to a search warrant being executed at the Castleton home of the second minor, a 16-year-old student of Rensselaer High School. The search resulted in the recovery of the stolen loaded handgun, as well as a fully automatic military-style pistol with an extended magazine.
The 16-year-old was taken into custody on October 21 and charged with first-degree robbery and third-degree grand larceny. He was arraigned before being released to a guardian's custody and is scheduled to return to court at a later date.
"This is a great outcome and we're grateful to have recovered both of these weapons before anyone was hurt," said North Greenbush Police Chief David Keevern. "We would like to thank our law enforcement partners for helping to bring this to a conclusion so quickly."
Police say additional charges are pending against both minors and that the investigation remains ongoing. North Greenbush Police were assisted by the Capital Region Crime Analysis Center and the Troy, Schodack and Rensselaer Police Departments.