BY AIDAN GRAHAM
Court police cuffed a
woman for allegedly trying
to smuggle a pistol into Kings
County Criminal Court on
Thursday.
Offi cers stopped the 22-
year-old suspect at around
10:40 a.m. on July 18, after she
attempted to bypass a security
checkpoint bearing a handgun
loaded with a full magazine of
eight hollow point rounds —
which are designed to expand
on impact, preventing the bullet
from exiting the body — in
the lobby of the Schermerhorn
Street courthouse between
Smith Street and Boerum
Place, according to a spokeswoman
for the New York State
Unifi ed Court System.
The court police arrested
the suspect and charged her
with criminal possession of a
weapon in the second degree,
according to the court rep.
The suspect later told authorities
that she had intended
to bring the fi rearm to a defendant
awaiting arraignment on
drug charges at Central Booking,
also located in the borough’s
criminal court building,
the court spokeswoman said.
“This is outstanding work
by court offi cers... in taking a
very dangerous fi rearm and
hollow-point bullets off the
streets,” said Lucian Chalfen,
a spokesman for the Offi ce of
Court Administration. “The
prevalence of these handguns
and the impunity with which
they are carried around cannot
be overstated.”
The Legal Aid Society — a
non-profi t legal services provider
who is representing the
defendant in this case — disputes
COURIER L 14 IFE, JULY 26-AUG. 1, 2019 PS
FIREARM: The gun that 22-year-old Keithia Lampkin attempted to smuggle into the Brooklyn Criminal Court
building on July 18. Offi ce of Court Administration
the authorities recounting
of the events, saying that
the suspect claimed simply “I
did not know the gun was in
the bag.”
The arrest comes just a
weak after police brass began
publicly sparring with the
Brooklyn District Attorney
over gun prosecutions in the
borough.
On July 8, Chief of Department
Terence Monahan
blamed the prosecutor’s youth
diversion program — which
allows some weapons-possession
offenders to avoid prison
time — for the uptick in gun
violence in certain parts of
the borough, including Bedford
Stuyvesant, Brownsville,
Crown Heights, and East New
York.
The District Attorney’s Offi
ce hit back, arguing that the
program decreases violence
and reduces the school-toprison
pipeline in Brooklyn
— where shootings are down
borough wide.
Court cops nab
gun-smuggler
Authorities charge woman who
tried to bring pistol into court
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