ROCKINGHAM — A man is facing firearms charges after reportedly walking around with a pair of firearms last week.
Police responded to the area around Leak, Armistead and Palmer streets on Sept. 11 after receiving multiple calls about someone walking around a playground with two shotguns, according to an incident report.
The responding officer reportedly found 26-year-old Quentin Jamel Wall with sawed-off Beretta 12-gauge shotgun and an Eastern 12-gauge shotgun.
Wall was arrested and charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction, which is a felony, an one misdemeanor charge each of going armed to the terror of the people — a common law offense derived from case law — and resisting a public officer.
North Carolina is an open-carry state, but individuals can be charged if people feel threatened.
Citing statistics from the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts, Jessica Smith of the UNC School of Government reported that charge was levied 340 cases in 2011.
He was booked into the Richmond County Jail, where he remained Tuesday under a $25,000 secured bond. Wall is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 26.
Wall is currently serving a 12-month suspended sentence after being convicted in March of carrying a concealed weapon and possession of stolen goods, according to records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction.
Records show Wall’s only other conviction was nearly a decade ago for injury to real property.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
