As Twitchy reported Tuesday morning, authorities stopped a vehicle with a cracked windshield on its way through the Holland Tunnel and found a cache of weapons, including a pump action shotgun, an SAR-98 assault rifle, four 9mm pistols, a .45-caliber handgun, tactical and night vision goggles, and body armor.
Terrorism was ruled out reasonably quickly, and ABC News reported that the guns were believed related to criminal activity, “likely heroin related.”
That’s true in a way. Tony Aiello of CBS New York relayed the back story via Twitter Tuesday night, and he describes the arrest as a misguided vigilante mission gone wrong.
Owner of Higher Ground Tactical – John Cramsey- among those arrested at Holland Tunnel with guns, ammo pic.twitter.com/Tl162ODnMt
— Tony Aiello (@AielloTV) June 21, 2016
It might not have been the smartest idea, but John Cramsey of Pennsylvania and two others were on a rescue mission of sorts.
Tragic backstory to #HollandTunnel gun bust. Grieving dad on misguided mission. 9p @WLNYTV 11p @CBSNewYork #CBS2 pic.twitter.com/U9MsMBlvS1
— Tony Aiello (@AielloTV) June 21, 2016
#HollandTunnel gun suspect John Cramsey posted about "extracting" a PA teen using drugs in NYC pic.twitter.com/0P52RTBJr7
— Tony Aiello (@AielloTV) June 21, 2016
CBS New York reports that the suspects claimed they were on their way through the city to rescue a friend who was being held hostage by a drug dealer.
Cramsey’s 20-year-old daughter, Alexandria, died from a heroin overdose four months ago Tuesday and he has since attended town hall meetings around the Allentown area to voice his concerns over the drug epidemic, The Morning Call newspaper in Allentown, Pennsylvania, reported.
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Friends of Cramsey’s told CBS2’s Aiello he feels tremendous guilt and began an “enough is enough” campaign. He also put decals on his truck reading, “Shoot your local heroin dealer.”
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“Ever since his daughter died, I think it was one of those things where he wishes he could have done something to save her, and now that she’s gone, he feels this guilt in his heart that he needs to help other people,” [friend Michael] Nickisher told Aiello in a phone interview.
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However, gun laws are gun laws, regardless of intent. Nickisher said Cramsey, as a gun dealer, was aware of the law in New York and New Jersey but “has not been thinking straight since his daughter died.”
On the plus side, a police source told CBS New York that the girl the group was looking to extricate was found in Brooklyn and was taken into police custody.
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