North Carolina police on Wednesday discovered a real semiautomatic pistol disguised as a Nerf gun during a drug raid this week.
Narcotics Investigators with the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office, Hickory Police Department, and the Newton Police Department were conducting the raid in Catawba County, north of Charlotte when the discovery was made.
The Glock model 19 pistol with a 50-round drum magazine was painted blue and orange and had a Nerf logo on it, and was found together with 20 guns, quantities of cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms, marijuana, and $2,300 in cash.
“Firearms of this type, while not illegal to possess, are concerning to law enforcement,” the authorities said in a statement.
Firearms, in general, are commonly seized in conjunction with searches where felony amounts of narcotics are present.
The suspect was identified as Damien Alonzo Burch, 35, and charged with felonious possession of cocaine, felonious possession of mushrooms, and misdemeanor possession of marijuana.
He was formally advised of the charges against him at a first appearance in Catawba County District Court on Thursday but was released on bail pending resolution of the case.
Catawba County Sheriff’s spokesperson Captain Aaron Turk said that the suspect was released on a $20,000 unsecured bond on Wednesday.
He added that investigators are yet to identify the motive as to why Burch’s gun was made to look like a Nerf toy.
Sheriff Don Brown described the raid as “another success resulting from our area Narcotics Teams working together.”
Police had been expressing their discomfort towards actual toy guns in the past.
In January, police in Lakewood, Colorado, held a woman and her boyfriend at gunpoint after receiving false information claiming that someone in the couple’s car threatened a Walmart employee with a gun.
When the authorities arrived at the scene, they discovered that it was a child in the car who had been playing with a toy gun.