A youth wanted for attempted murder in New York City was arrested Thursday morning in Bethlehem, and police say they found guns and drugs in the city apartment where he was staying.
Authorities have been searching for Rehmier Richardson, 17, since the Jan. 17 incident in which a group attempted to rob a smoke shop, Robert Clark, a supervisory deputy with the Marshals Service Eastern District of Pennsylvania, told lehighvalleylive.com.
When confronted by a store employee, Richardson allegedly shot the employee in the leg, Clark said. He was wanted on charges of second-degree attempted manslaughter and robbery.
Investigators discovered that Richardson may have been staying with a female co-worker in an apartment in the 900 block of East Sixth Street in Bethlehem, Clark said.
Members of the US Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force, the New York City Police Department and the Bethlehem Police Department raided the apartment Thursday morning.
Clark said a person opened the apartment door and the teen was arrested without incident at 7:15 a.m., court records say.
Richardson is being charged as an adult in the attempted manslaughter and is being held as a fugitive in Pennsylvania awaiting extradition to New York, Clark said.
There were numerous firearms and narcotics in plain sight in the Bethlehem apartment, Clark said.
Bethlehem police said they found a black nylon firearms case in Xavier Byrd’s bedroom containing a Mossberg Maverick 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and associated ammunition, as well as a bag of marijuana.
Officers also found a 9mm handgun, a .22-caliber handgun, a Smith and Wesson .38-caliber revolver, and a FedArm 20-gauge shotgun; associated ammunition for the firearms; and a divisible amount of cocaine.
Four of the five firearms were found in Byrd’s bedroom and he is prohibited from carrying firearms due to previous convictions for drug possession, drug distribution and gun possession, Bethlehem police said.
Byrd, 49, is charged with five counts of unlawful possession of a firearm, as well as possession with intent to supply cocaine, possession of a small amount of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Byrd was sent to the Northampton County Jail after failing to post $100,000 bail, records show. A defense attorney has not yet appeared in his case.
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Sarah Cassi can be reached at [email protected].