A 23-year-old Leesburg man is behind bars on a litany of charges after being accused of pointing a handgun at a couple on Halloween night as they loaded their children into their vehicle for a night of trick-or-treating.
Leesburg Police officers responded to a residence in the 200 block of Mike Street and spoke with the two victims. The woman told them she had been in a verbal altercation with her neighbor earlier in the evening because of “too much noise in the area,” a police report states.
The woman said a black male, later identified as 23-year-old Martavien Dashun Brown, who was wearing a black sweatshirt and sweatpants with white and red designs/decals on the sides of his clothing, pulled out a handgun from his waistband and started waving it toward her and her fiancé as they were putting their children into their vehicle. The woman said her fiancé told his aunt, who lives next door, to go inside the house and she drove away and contacted law enforcement. The woman’s fiancé confirmed her story and said Brown “stated he was ready to die,” the report says.
A short time later, officers spotted Brown near the intersection of E. Magnolia Street and Indiana Street. They attempted to speak with him but he ran into a residence on the southeast side of the intersection and was inside the home for about 45 seconds before coming back outside, the report says.
The woman’s fiancé positively identified Brown and he was detained and placed under arrest. After officers searched him and found a clear baggie of a substance that tested positive for THC wax, Brown was transported to the Leesburg Police Department to be booked, the report says.
While officers were still on scene at E. Magnolia Street and Indiana Street, the homeowner of the residence Brown ran into returned. She agreed to let officers search the back yard of the residence, where they found a Glock 9mm handgun on the patio. The weapon, which had reported stolen Sept. 1 out of Polk County, contained a 33-round magazine loaded with 24 rounds and one in the chamber, the report says.
Brown, who lives at 908 E. Magnolia St. in Leesburg, was transported to the Lake County Jail and charged with 26 counts of possession of a weapon or ammunition by a convicted felon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, theft of a firearm, possession of controlled substance (THC wax) without a prescription and resisting an officer without violence. He was being held on $48,000 bond and is due in court Nov. 23 at 8:30 a.m. to answer to the charges, jail records show.
