Bud Kirkpatrick (L) and Terrence Alexander (R)
WATSONVILLE — Since the beginning of the year, the Watsonville Police Deparmtent has taken over 20 firearms off the street over the course of three incidents in the last four days. In its most recent case, two officers were able to recover 15 firearms stolen on New Year’s Day during a residential burglary.
On Monday evening, two Watsonville officers were patrolling the area of Pennsylvania Drive and Hammer Drive when they noticed a gold Chrysler minivan in violation of the California Vehicle Code. Officers stopped the van and spoke to the driver, identified as 60-year-old Bud Kirkpatrick.
While speaking with Kirkpatrick, one of the officers noticed a firearm behind his seat. Kirkpatrick was detained while officers called for back-up, and he was taken into custody without incident once they arrived.
Once the minivan was searched, officers recovered not only the firearm from behind the seat but 15 others as well. Following his arrest, Kirkpatrick’s residence was also searched, during which time officers located three more handguns.
Further investigation revealed that the weapons actually belonged to another Watsonville resident whose home had been burgled on New Year’s Day. Officers also learned of another suspect, 39-year-old Terrence Alexander, who may have been involved in the burglary.
Investigators began a surveillance effort on Alexander’s residence and were able to arrest him fairly quickly, and a subsequent search of the property turned up another stolen handgun.
Alexander was taken to a local hospital as a result of being tased for forcibly resisting arrest and was later medically cleared, at which point he was booked into the Santa Cruz County Jail on charges of possession of a firearm, possession of stolen property, possession of a concealed firearm, possession of a concealed stolen firearm, resisting arrest, and violating his probation.
Kirkpatrick was booked on being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of stolen property, possession of a concealed firearm, possession of a concealed stolen firearm, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
