By Neale Gulley<br><a href="mailto:gulleyn@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Neale</a>
City police believe they narrowly avoided catastrophe Sunday afternoon when a man they were called to investigate took off in the direction of a loaded gun.
Police say Eric Smith, 18, 727 Sweethome Road, rear, had recently stolen two handguns from his grandfather’s house in Amherst. Smith was under investigation after police received a call from a woman who said the young man had threatened his own life with one of the weapons the previous evening.
The 19-year-old woman identified herself as his ex-girlfriend.
Officers were summoned around 3 p.m. to her Adam Street home on a complaint that Smith wouldn’t leave. Investigators confirmed an active stay away order between the two was in effect.
Smith, who the woman said had a growing drug problem, had allegedly been sleeping in her car, a 2001 Saturn, which was parked at Mississippi Mudds, just a stone’s throw from her home. It was toward the same car that Smith sprinted when police arrived, and where a loaded .22 caliber Ruger pistol was found sitting on the front seat.
Smith was stopped by officers at gunpoint before he could get there.
“She told the officers the night before he’d put this loaded gun to his head,” City of Tonawanda Police Lt. Fred Foels said. “They got to him before he got to it ... he beats feet to the car so the officers took him down. Well, lo and behold the loaded Ruger is in the car.”
Foels wouldn’t speculate on Smith’s intent, but was left to guess at the number of gruesome outcomes that might have followed if he’d armed himself against police. Suicide, a shootout and ‘suicide by cop’ are all possibilities authorities are trained to avoid at all costs — and frequent outcomes when weapons become involved in routine police work.
“Who knows how it could have turned out?” Foels said.
Although two guns were reported stolen from the Amherst man, the second one has not been found. Police theorize Smith may have sold it.
Smith was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, fourth-degree criminal possession of stolen property and contempt. He was held for court.
The woman said he’d been acting strange lately. She said she had attempted to check him into Erie County Medical Center, apparently related to a drug habit, but that he wasn’t ultimately admitted.
“She described how she had attempted to get Smith help for his heroin addiction, as it made him do things he would not normally do,” the report states.
A felony hearing is scheduled today.
Contact reporter Neale Gulley at 693-1000, ext. 114.
