Santa Cruz Police Arrest Man With Loaded AR-15s Outside Bar

SANTA CRUZ, CA — Police officers arrested a man for illegally possessing two AR-15s outside of a downtown bar in Santa Cruz on Saturday, according to the Santa Cruz Police Department.

A tweet sent out Sunday said officers responded to a report of a man brandishing a firearm and threatening to shoot people at a downtown bar off Cedar Street the night before.

Officers responded and detained a man in front of the bar and at the same time a large fight broke out in a nearby parking lot, the tweet said. The patrol team moved to that location and detained everyone involved as well as located two loaded AR-15s in plain sight in a parked vehicle.

"First and foremost, I'm glad nobody was hurt. It's unfortunate that anyone would think to have these weapons in their vehicle let alone take them somewhere in our city. There are so many things that could have went wrong here. There is no need for these," Bernie Escalante, Interim Chief of Police, told Patch.

Officers arrested Collin Stewart on suspicion of illegal possession of an assault weapon, carrying a loaded firearm and participating in a criminal street gang.

"Two loaded AR-15s are out of the hands of criminals," SCPD said.