LAWRENCE - Joaquin Cruz had survived a March shooting and was given a chance to be free.
But he sheared off the tracking bracelet he was supposed to be wearing, police said, and took off into the world - or at least up Interstate 495 into Amesbury.
It was there, on Macy Street, that Cruz, 20, was arrested when the overdue Dodge Charger rental car he was riding in was pulled over for speeding Wednesday morning.
Amesbury police arrested Cruz and three others when they found the car reeking of marijuana smoke, police said. A search turned up a soda bottle filled with burned marijuana cigarettes and a loaded Kel-Tec 9 mm pistol in the glove box, police said. Later, police found nine 9 mm bullets in the ashtray, a costume-style face mask and a bulletproof vest in the trunk's spare tire well, police said.
All four were charged with illegal possession of a handgun and ammunition and possession of marijuana.
Cruz also will face charges of dropping the monitoring bracelet, which he went off sometime before Aug. 23, according to a state probation document. He was on the bracelet after being arrested in March on gun possession and drug charges.
That arrest came just after Cruz was shot in the leg, back and groin by a robber who broke into his Dracut Street apartment. Cruz's girlfriend, who was driving the car in Amesbury, frantically called 911 that night while another woman hid in a closet with a 20-month-old girl.
Police found a gun and marijuana in the apartment and charged Cruz and the two women. Edison Mejia, 22, of Andover Street, faces a number of charges in that shooting, including armed home invasion and illegally discharging a firearm.
But he sheared off the tracking bracelet he was supposed to be wearing, police said, and took off into the world - or at least up Interstate 495 into Amesbury.
It was there, on Macy Street, that Cruz, 20, was arrested when the overdue Dodge Charger rental car he was riding in was pulled over for speeding Wednesday morning.
Amesbury police arrested Cruz and three others when they found the car reeking of marijuana smoke, police said. A search turned up a soda bottle filled with burned marijuana cigarettes and a loaded Kel-Tec 9 mm pistol in the glove box, police said. Later, police found nine 9 mm bullets in the ashtray, a costume-style face mask and a bulletproof vest in the trunk's spare tire well, police said.
All four were charged with illegal possession of a handgun and ammunition and possession of marijuana.
Cruz also will face charges of dropping the monitoring bracelet, which he went off sometime before Aug. 23, according to a state probation document. He was on the bracelet after being arrested in March on gun possession and drug charges.
That arrest came just after Cruz was shot in the leg, back and groin by a robber who broke into his Dracut Street apartment. Cruz's girlfriend, who was driving the car in Amesbury, frantically called 911 that night while another woman hid in a closet with a 20-month-old girl.
Police found a gun and marijuana in the apartment and charged Cruz and the two women. Edison Mejia, 22, of Andover Street, faces a number of charges in that shooting, including armed home invasion and illegally discharging a firearm.
