Resident’s tip leads to gang member’s arrest in Kershaw Co.

The Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office says a tip from a concerned resident led to the arrest of a gang member on gun charges.

Christian Pierre Greene, 26, of Roy Truesdell Road in Lugoff, was charged with unlawful carrying of a pistol, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a stolen pistol, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies responded to the Hallmark Apartments on Roy Truesdell Road around 8:30 p.m. Sunday after a resident reported overhearing a conversation between several males “about shooting up an apartment,” according to a release. They saw around 10 men standing in front of an apartment who, when asked, said they had no weapons.

During patdown searches of the men, Greene was found to have a fully loaded .40-caliber Ruger pistol that was reported stolen out of Lexington County, officials said. Greene told deputies he bought the gun from an unknown person in Columbia and didn’t know it was stolen.

“Were any of these men actually going to shoot up someone’s apartment?” Sheriff Jim Matthews said. “We don’t really know. But whether or not Greene was going to, he won’t now. Thankfully a concerned citizen tipped us off and we were able to remove an armed gang member from our county, at least for the time being.”

Matthews said federal authorities are reviewing several recent arrests of known gang members who are convicted felons and had firearms. It wasn’t clear if Greene’s case was one of them.

Greene is a documented member of the Bloods gang, Matthews said. He has prior arrests for kidnapping, armed robbery, assault with a concealed weapon and burglaries.

This story was originally published January 30, 2017 at 11:15 AM with the headline "Resident’s tip leads to gang member’s arrest in Kershaw Co.."