Felon had 21 firearms, body armor, thousands of rounds of ammunition, NC sheriff says
Deputies confiscated 21 firearms, multiple sets of protective body armor and thousands of rounds of ammunition after responding to a report of shots fired in the Burlington-area home of a felon, the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The firearms included a fully automatic machine gun and three short barrel rifles with fixed stocks, sheriff’s investigators said in a news release Friday.
Deputies also seized a gas mask and “a large amount of firearm accessories” from the home in the 1000 block of Burch Bridge Road, according to the release.
A caller who reported the shots Monday said the man in the home was “making threats to harm himself and others,” sheriff’s officials said.
Because of the reported threats, deputies detained the man for questioning, according to the news release.
The sheriff’s office identified the man as 28-year-old Christopher Michael Caulder.
Witnesses told deputies that Caulder had numerous firearms and a large amount of ammunition in the home, prompting investigators to obtain and execute a search warrant.
Caulder was arrested on four counts of felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction and a count of felony possession of a firearm by a felon. He was jailed on a $350,000 secured bond.
N.C law prohibits only a few types of firearms, including fully automatic firearms; machine guns and parts for converting firearms into a machine gun; short-barreled, or “sawed-off,” shotguns; and suppressors, including silencers, according to Raleigh law firm Kirk, Kirk, Howell, Cutler & Thomas.
Felons are barred from having any type of firearm.
The sheriff’s office didn’t specify the crime or crimes Caulder was convicted of committing before his latest arrest.
Sheriff’s investigators haven’t said if they know why Caulder had such a large cache of firearms, ammunition and body armor. They said only that they’re still investigating the case.
This story was originally published November 12, 2022 at 3:21 PM.