Law enforcement officers confiscated five firearms and various narcotics during a series of raids across Beaver County last week. Four of the seized weapons were equipped with Glock switches, devices that convert standard handguns into fully automatic firearms.
The joint operation involved Beaver County detectives, New Brighton Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Beaver County District Attorney Nate Bible emphasized that removing Glock switches from the streets is important for public safety.
The District Attorney shared doorbell video of a shooting on Sept. 29 on Wade Street in Aliquippa, where investigators recovered between 50 and 60 shell casings after a 19-year-old victim was wounded.
“It resembles a video game, similar to an old saloon, with the sound of bullets whizzing by followed by the rapid fire of a machine gun caused by the switch,” Bible said, referring to the sound of gunshots on the video.
The District Attorney said the sound of the rapid rate of gunshots confirmed a Glock switch was used during the shooting. No one has been arrested in connection with the shooting.
“You can tell at one point a Glock switch is used by how quickly those bullets are being fired,” Bible said.
Search warrants executed at two homes in Aliquippa led to the seizure of three firearms fitted with Glock switches.
Additionally, county detectives partnered with the New Brighton Police on a narcotics investigation at a Brightwood Manor residence, where officers discovered another firearm equipped with a Glock switch.
Following the drug bust at the Brightwood Manor residence, police arrested Salaam Mangum. Investigators said Mangum goes by the nickname “Glockaveli.”
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office will be prosecuting them,” Bible said. “They have much stiffer penalty for Glock switches, so anytime we can do that, get a better sentence out of it, we’re happy to hand the case off to the ATF.”
The DA’s office and the ATF started a partnership in the summer to analyze weapons in police custody for connections to unresolved shootings.
Shell casings recovered from the Sept. 29 shooting have been sent to a laboratory to determine if they match any of the confiscated weapons.
Investigators send the guns in police custody and shell casings to a lab, where they can determine if they match an unsolved gun crime.
“All those shell casings that we found on the 29th are being processed and tested so it’s possible one of the Glock switches we found last week was used in that Aliquippa shooting,” Bible said. “I mean, we don’t know at this time, but it’s possible.”
Bible said despite that uncertainty, getting the Glock switches off the streets is important.
“If you have three or four guys with them, the amount of shots that could be fired and the rounds that could be dispensed in that quickly of a time, it kind of illustrates how dangerous these things really are,” Bible said.
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