DA seizes over two dozen ghost guns
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Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz and NYPD Inspector Courtney Nilan announced the recovery of 33 illegal firearms and accessories from four Queens residents on Thursday, March 3, 2022. Photo courtesy of QDA
By Rachel Vick
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Thursday the seizure of dozens of ghost guns, ammunition and tactical gear after several NYPD raids earlier this week.
The 33 guns were found in the Flushing and Bayside homes of Andrew Chang, Kai Zhao, Michael Frankenfeld and Seongwoo Chung, according to law enforcement.
In addition to thousands of rounds of ammunition, officers seized 27 ghost guns, 78 high capacity magazines, components to assemble additional guns and the equipment to manufacture them. Guns seized included semi-automatic guns, assault rifles, shotguns and pistols.
The defendants were building an arsenal, the DA said. Katz said accessories like night vision modifications, bulletproof ammunition vests and silencers found at the homes were of particular concern.
“Think about that,” Katz said. “These lethal firearms… were allegedly being manufactured and kept in residential homes.”
If convicted, Chang and Chung face up to 15 years in prison, and Frankenfeld and Zhao
face up to 25 years in prison. They return to court March 4.
Tuesday's seizure was the sixth across the borough since August and brings the total number of firearms seized up to 107.
After taking office in 2020, Katz launched a Crime Strategies Unit to gather information and track online purchases of the parts needed to craft ghost guns, which are made without a serial number and can not be tracked.
“We are pioneering this task force to make sure we decrease the amount of shootings on the street, the amount of guns readily accessible,” she added.
The sale of parts is not itself illegal, but the possession of completed firearms and certain components are illegal in the state, according to the DA’s office.
“We do hope the federal government will see fit to putting serial numbers on all the parts of the ghost gun, right now many parts are untraceable and that's what we need to be able to identify,” Katz said.
The NYPD has seen a 325 percent increase in the recovery of polymer guns in 2022 when compared to last year, according to NYPD Inspector Courtney Nilan. In 2020 the NYPD recovered 150 ghost guns and in 2021 the number nearly doubled to 275, according to Nilan.
There have already been 85 recovered this year.
The guns are being recovered not just in long term investigations, Nilan said, but during unrelated arrests like 911 calls or car stops, where they hadn’t been seen on the same scale before last year.
“The goal… is to recover these guns before they get to these streets,” she said. “You’re sitting at home ordering these parts… which is very alarming.”
During his first month in office, Mayor Eric Adams announced a citywide plan to end gun violence which includes expanding the Gun Violence Suppression Division and anti-violence programs to try and divert young people from involvement in crime.
