A Tinton Falls man is facing weapons charges after he brought a handgun loaded with armor-piercing bullets into Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank last month, police Chief Darren McConnell told redbankgreen Wednesday.
The suspect, Wesley Rucker, age 34, was also charged with impersonating a federal law enforcement official.
According to McConnell, Rucker was arrested outside the hospital’s emergency room on Riverview Plaza at around 2 p.m. on October 22.
A hospital staffer had seen a handgun in Rucker’s waistband and “advised him that hospital policy requires that it be secured,” McConnell said. At that, point, Rucker “identified himself to hospital staff as being a federal Drug Enforcement Agency agent,” he said.
Hospital personnel, suspicious of Rucker’s assertion, alerted borough police, McConnell said.
“Rucker then identified himself to our officers as a DEA agent and provided what appeared to be a valid DEA identification,” McConnell said via email. “Our officers also did not believe that Rucker was an agent and were able to verify that the identification was fraudulent and that he was not a law enforcement officer and was not affiliated with the DEA or any other federal agency.”
Rucker was also found to be carrying a 9-millimeter Glock handgun loaded with hollow-point bullets, which are restricted to use by law enforcement officers, McConnell said.
Rucker was charged with impersonating a law enforcement official, possessing a weapon for an unlawful purpose and possession of restricted bullets, among others, McConnell said.
Detective Paul Perez made the arrest.
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