Glock Handgun, 500 Rounds of Ammo Seized During Domestic Disturbance Call

Editor's Note: Through follow up reporting with the La Grange Park Police Department, Patch has learned both counts were dismissed Oct. 12, 2011.

La Grange Park police confiscated a Glock .357-caliber handgun and more than 500 rounds of various caliber ammunition while investigating a domestic argument in the early morning of Feb. 26 in an apartment in the 400 block of Homestead Road.

They charged resident Joseph P. Mesa, 31, with both possession of a firearm and possession of ammunition without a valid firearm owner’s identification card. Mesa is due in court to face the charges April 13 at 1:30 p.m. at the Maybrook 4th Municipal District courthouse in Maywood. 

When police arrived at Mesa's residence at about 12:26 a.m. on Feb. 26, a woman in the apartment said she and Mesa had been arguing for the past three hours about Mesa not picking up around the home while he is there all day.

Police saw a round of ammunition on a table next to the couch Mesa was sitting on. They asked if he had a handgun and asked where it was located. Police said Mesa stalled, looking to his right at the couch. He slowly began to move and reach his hands to the right, when an officer told him not to move again and asked him again to identify the location of the handgun.

Mesa told police the gun was in the couch, next to him. An officer handcuffed him and police found the Glock gun loaded with 14 rounds in accessible reach. Mesa’s firearm owner’s card expired Dec. 10, 2010, police said.

Mesa gave police permission to search the home and police found a switchblade knife, a Glock .22-caliber conversion kit and a substantial amount of additional ammunition: 37 rounds of .308-caliber ammunition; 378 rounds of  22-caliber ammunition, including 10 hollow-point bullets; eight rounds of .45-caliber ammunition; 23 rounds of .357-caliber ammunition; 10 rounds of .40-caliber ammunition; one 30/06 round; two 12-gauge shotgun bullets; 25 20-gauge shotgun rounds; a Glock  .35 caliber magazine with 10 rounds each; two Glock .9mm magazines; two Glock .40-caliber magazines with 10 rounds each; one Ruger magazine; and two Glock .40-caliber magazines with 15 rounds each.

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