New Bedford Police Arrest Brockton Man With Altered Handgun

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — An 18-year-old from Brockton was arrested this week by New Bedford Police after he was found to be in possession of an illegal handgun altered to be fully automatic following social media photos of him posing with the gun.

According to police, Detective Jonathan Miranda received information that Szandor O’Malley, 18, of Brockton was in New Bedford and in possession of a pistol. Police said photographs were posted to Snapchat showing O’Malley posing with the pistol twice this year.

Police said that on March 12 at around 10 p.m., O’Malley was spotted as a passenger in a vehicle in the city’s West End. The vehicle was stopped near the County Street-Bedford Street intersection and O’Malley was removed from the vehicle.

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Police searched him and found the gun tucked into his waistband. O’Malley was arrested and is charged with carrying and possessing a loaded machine gun without a license.

According to police, the gun was a Polymer 80 loaded with 10 rounds of ammunition, and that the firearm had a light affixed to it as well as an “auto sear switch,” which police said converts a semi-automatic weapon “to fully automatic, making it capable of emptying an entire magazine of bullets with a single trigger pull.”

Police said auto sear switches are becoming more common on guns, which “can be attributed to 3D printers and Chinese manufacturers selling them illicitly online,” according to a report.