Delco-Based Ghost Gun Operation Broken Up: Philadelphia DA

DELAWARE COUNTY, PA — Philadelphia authorities have charged five people in connection with what they said was a Delaware County-based fun manufacturing operation, from which a gun used in the 2024 Eid Al-Fitr holiday shooting in Philadelphia originated.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and members of the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office Gun Violence Task Force Monday announced charges against Chase Freas, 19, of Woodlyn; Shane Scott, 22, of Drexel Hill; and Nicholas Luciani, 27, of Philadelphia. The two others charged are juveniles, authorities said.

The five are accused of producing and straw purchasing of several firearms, one of which was later used in the April 10, 2024, non-fatal shooting outside the Philadelphia Masjid in West Philadelphia on the Muslim holiday of Eid Al-Fitr.

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Freas is charged with six counts of sale or transfer of firearms, conspiracy, and related offenses; Scott, who remains at large, is charged with one count of sale or transfer of firearms, conspiracy, and related offenses; and Luciani is charged with one count of prohibited offensive weapon.

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Following the shooting, investigators worked not only to identify and apprehend the suspects involved in the actual shooting, but also to trace the path of the privately manufactured Polymer 80 ghost gun found at the scene of the shooting.

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This investigation uncovered a gun manufacturing ring operating in Delaware County. The current charges stem from text messages obtained during the investigation.

These messages indicated gun trafficking activity and the purchase of a Polymer 80 firearm-making kit. Additional firearm-making materials were recovered at Freas' residence.

Freas is scheduled to appear at a trial Monday on charges of felony trespassing and firearm violations in Delaware County, court records show.

Scott, according to court records, in 2022 was sentenced to a year of probation after pleading no contest to recklessly endangering another person in Delaware County. He was then sentenced to another year of probation in 2023 for failing to comply with the initial probation conditions, court records show.