West Melbourne police: Man had rifle near daycare; prompted lockdown
West Melbourne detectives are working to determine why a 26-year-old man was walking near a daycare center Tuesday with a rifle, prompting a precautionary lockdown.
The incident prompted a heavy response from officers and a search assisted by the Brevard County sheriff’s office. No one was injured but police arrested Enrique Christen Martinez and charged him with possession of a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school, court records show.
The incident unfolded about 7:30 a.m. Tuesday near the area of Pineapple Cove, 145 Palm Bay Road, near Minton Road. A photo from video surveillance camera released by the police department showed a man in a hoodie and with an apparent rifle hanging low as he walked nearby.
Officers, responding to reports of a man with a rifle walking toward the school, arrived within minutes and the school was placed on a precautionary lockdown.
The sheriff’s helicopter was also dispatched. Martinez was located on Hield Road. The rifle was also recovered and secured, police reported. It was not immediately known if the rifle was operable.
Martinez was held on a $2,000 bond at the Brevard County Jail Complex in Sharpes. No trial date has been set.
J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @JDGallop.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: West Melbourne police arrest man after school lockdown
