Status of adapted flare gun in question

(CNS): A 22-year-old man from East End has pleaded not guilty to possession of a loaded unlicensed firearm on the basis that the weapon in question was an adapted flare gun. The court heard that Antascio Terrell Rankine is charged with possessing a modified signal pistol loaded with 12 gauge cartridges, but it has not been determined if the weapon was capable of firing. A trial has been set for next year but the defence said that they remain in discussions with the crown over the condition of the gun.

The weapon was seized from Rankine following an altercation with police in George Town in June. Officers had responded to a report about a man who was said to have a gun that he was showing to people near the Roof Top Bar in Mary Street. Police said at the time that armed officers spotted the man answering the description and when he was asked to stop and show his hands, he did not comply.

“One officer stepped forward to detain the man, who wriggled out of his grasp and escaped, during the course of which an object resembling a firearm fell from the man’s waistband,” the RCIPS stated in a release at the time.

Described as threatening and aggressive by police, Rankine was tasered but he removed the probes and ran off before being tasered again.

The incident was captured on a cell phone by an onlooker and was posted and re-posted on Facebook numerous times and viewed by thousands of people.