WORCESTER, MA – On July 24th 2021 at about 1:30 PM, two Worcester Police officers were on patrol in the area of Mott Street when they observed a vehicle drive through a stop sign without stopping or slowing down, which nearly caused an accident with another vehicle.
The officers activated their blue lights and stopped the first vehicle on Aetna St. They approached the vehicle and spoke with the operator, identified as Elijah Cruz-Morales, twenty-five-years-old of Lewis St.Mr. Cruz-Morales was argumentative and refused to produce his license. He appeared to be nervous and kept glancing at a backpack in the front passenger’s seat.
Officers asked him to step out of the vehicle and he refused, so he was escorted out of the vehicle. An officer squeezed the backpack and immediately felt what he knew to be a handgun inside. Mr. Cruz-Morales did not have a license to carry firearms and was placed under arrest. The firearm turned out to be loaded. Officers located several bags of what appeared to be K2, packaging materials, and a digital scale.
Mr. Cruz-Morales is charged with Carrying a Loaded Firearm without a License, Possession of Ammunition without an FID Card, Possession of a Large Capacity Feeding Device, Improper Storage of a Firearm, Possession of a Class C Substance with Intent to Distribute, Refusal to Produce License, and Failure to Stop at a Stop Sign. He will be arraigned in court.