A 29-year-old man who allegedly tried to push his way inside a Banning home while armed was charged Wednesday with carrying a loaded stolen handgun and other offenses.
Douglas Jose Salazar of Hemet was arrested and booked into the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning Saturday following a Banning Police Department investigation.
Along with the stolen firearm count, Salazar was charged with possession of controlled substances while armed and carrying a concealed weapon.
He’s being held in lieu of $25,000 bail and was slated to make his initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon at the Banning Justice Center.
According to police, about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Salazar went to a residence in the 800 block of Latitude Road, near Raven Way, and allegedly tried to gain access through the front door.
The attempt was unsuccessful, and the resident called 911, after which Banning patrol units converged on the area, police said.
Salazar was spotted a short time later roaming a nearby neighborhood and was taken into custody without incident, according to investigators.
“During the contact, officers located a loaded semiautomatic handgun, 88 rounds of ammunition, a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia,” according to a police statement. “The gun was reported to be stolen out of West Virginia.”
The defendant may have been the same individual going door-to-door, harassing residents, earlier in the night, but authorities were not certain.
It was unclear why he was in the area.
According to court records, Salazar has a prior misdemeanor conviction for reckless driving.