PORTAGE (WKZO AM/FM) — Two people are in the Kalamazoo County Jail after fleeing from a traffic stop and ditching a stolen gun in Portage.
Public Safety officials attempted to pull over a reckless driver around 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon on Portage Road near Zylman Avenue but the driver took off.
Authorities later received a call from a resident who said someone left the same car in her backyard about 2 miles away from the incident.
The car was empty but deputies were able to track down the driver, 36-year-old Anna Marie Guarisco from Florida, and the passenger, a 29-year-old Micheal Merchant of Vicksburg, and arrest them.
Later another Portage resident called and said someone left a gun in their unlocked car, which authorities later realized was linked to the passenger in the first incident.
Guarisco is being held for methamphetamine possession, fleeing and eluding and resisting charges.
Merchant was charged with a felony gun count, illegal entry and possession of a financial transaction device.
Bond was denied for both.
