WASHINGTON (ABC7) — A Virginia man was arrested Friday night after being stopped at a D.C. checkpoint and being found with an unregistered gun along with more than 500 rounds of ammunition, according to U.S. Capitol Police.
The man, who has since been identified as Wesley Allen Beeler from Front Royal in Virginia, also presented unauthorized inaugural credentials while trying to pass through the police checkpoint on Friday evening, arresting documents show.
The arresting documents show Beeler was arrested after being stopped in a white Ford F-150 truck in the First District after 6:30 p.m. by two responding U.S. Capitol officers at a Presidential Inauguration perimeter set up at North Capitol Street NW at E Street NW.
Capitol Police asked him to pull over when he presented them with the unauthorized Inaugural credentials to further investigate, the documents show, which is when an officer says several firearm-related decals were seen on the rear windshield, including “assault life” and “If they come for your guns Give ’em your bullets first.”
Officers say they asked Beeler if he had any weapons or anything that might harm them if they search his vehicle, which is when officers say he told them he had a Glock under the center armrest. This is when officers say they removed him from the vehicle to check the rest of the vehicle and saw the end of a handgun and magazine in plain sight near the driver’s side.
A 17 round high-capacity magazine was discovered loaded in one handgun, loaded with 16 rounds of 9 MM ammunition, Capitol Police documented. 509 9MM rounds of hollow point and ball ammunition and twenty-one 12-gauge shotgun shells were also found in plain sight in the rear of the vehicle, police added, along with a handgun “designed to be fired with a single hand and capable of expelling a projectile by means of an explosion.”
He was arrested around 7:48 p.m. and sent to the U.S. Capitol Police headquarters for processing, the documents show, and police discovered that the gun and ammo were not registered to the District.
At the time of Beeler’s arrest, law enforcement recovered one Glock 17 Gen 4 9MM Glocks, 509 rounds of 9MM ammunition, 12-gauge shotgun shells, and 17 rounds of Glock 17 magazines, according to the charging documents.
He’s been charged with being in violation of the Emergency Act put in place ahead of the planned Presidential Inauguration by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser a few days ago, along with being in possession of an unregistered firearm, unregistered ammunition, and a large capacity ammunition feeding device.
He has since been released on his own personal recognizance and given a stay-away order, ABC7’s Tom Roussey reports.