ST. LOUIS – This past weekend, police confiscated multiple illegal firearms, including a rifle and auto-sear switch, and arrested a 20-year-old St. Louis man.
According to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s probable cause statement, the incident unfolded in the Peabody–Darst–Webbe neighborhood, just south of the downtown area.
Police received word of multiple people wearing ski masks, carrying backpacks, and armed with weapons in the 1100 block of South Tucker Boulevard. A police helicopter arrived in the area and guided police to the individuals, who were in the 1100 block of South 14th Street.
Officers saw three men exit the back of a home and heard a woman inside telling them to leave. Police said the officers approached one of the men, who was still wearing a ski mask and had a backpack, and they detained him.
Officers searched the man’s backpack and found a black and silver short barrel AR-15 with no serial number, which police call a “ghost gun.” Officers also found an auto-sear switch inside the bolt carrier, making the rifle a fully automatic weapon.
Police searched the man and found a clear, knotted baggie containing numerous red and gray capsules. Officers took the man, identified as Eric Eichelberger, into custody.
The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office charged Eichelberger with one count of unlawful possession of an illegal weapon. Eichelberger remains jailed with no bond pending trial. His next court appearance, a detention hearing, is scheduled for May 19.