ERMA — Lower Township Police Communication Center received a 9-1-1 call from a resident in the 100 Block on Maryland Avenue located in Villas on Sun. May 1, at approximately 12:10 p.m.
The caller reported that there was a lot of screaming and yelling coming from a home in the area and that a male subject had just run out of the house to a vehicle parked out front.
The subject then retrieved a semi-automatic hand gun from the vehicle before running back into the home with the gun.
Multiple Lower Township Police Officers responded to the residence. As officers arrived on scene, a young male fled from the residence and attempted elude officers.
Officers then gave chase and a foot pursuit ensued.
Officers pursued the subject on foot while other officers searched the residence to check on the safety of those inside.
Officers Matthew Dickinson and William Barcas apprehended the male subject in the 100 Block of Ohio Avenue, who was identified as a 17-year-old male juvenile.
After which the officers recovered a .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun loaded with illegal hollow point bullets, in the area that the juvenile had attempted to hide.
Further investigation determined that the 17-year-old juvenile was not the initial actor in the incident, but was attempting to hide a weapon for the original subject reported with the gun.
Additional follow up and investigation on scene determined that a Matthew Bland, 25, of the 100 Block of West Tampa Avenue in the Villas Section of Lower Township, had been involved in a heated domestic dispute with a female on Maryland Avenue, when he retrieved a .40 caliber semi-automatic hand gun loaded with hollow point rounds, from his vehicle.
Bland then re-entered the home where he verbally threatened the female and chambered a round from the magazine of the weapon into the barrel.
Bland was arrested at the scene and transported to the Lower Township Police Department for processing where he was charged with;
Terroristic Threats
Illegal Possession of a Weapon
Possession of a Weapon for Unlawful Purposes
Possession of Prohibited Ammunition
Bland was subsequently lodged in the Cape May County Jail in default of a $50,000 cash bail, set by Lower Township Municipal Court Judge, Thomas Hillegass.
The 17-year-old juvenile was charged with one count of Obstruction of Justice and Hindering Apprehension of another.
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