Danbury PD Says Someone Pointed Weapon at Kids Waiting for Bus

The Danbury Police Department issued an initial statement to the public on Tuesday (5/31/22) after making two arrests.

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DPD began receiving calls yesterday about someone pointing a "weapon" at local school children waiting for the bus. In the end, two people were arrested and the authorities say the "weapon" in question was a paintball gun.

The statement from DPD was posted to their Facebook page, just after 10 am Tuesday, and it reads:

"This morning the Danbury Police Department received numerous calls about a vehicle with two males pointing a weapon at children waiting for buses. Officers quickly located the vehicle based on calls received from the public and subsequently arrested both individuals. A paintball gun was recovered from the vehicle. A full press release will be forthcoming."

The release was prepared by Sergeant James Antonelli.

Talk about tone deaf. What do we have to do to get the message through to people that this is not OK? An activity like this was never funny or okay, but in this day and age, you have to know that. No matter your political beliefs or thoughts on guns, you need to know that pointing any weapon at anyone isn't it, so what are we doing wrong?

How is the message getting lost? How can we better communicate this point to everyone? I don't know the answer, and frankly I'm baffled as to how we are not in a place where everyone understands this but we are falling short somewhere.

Danbury, CT is just down the road from Newtown/Sandy Hook. The world has just gone through the devastation of another mass shooting, and yet someone "allegedly" STILL pointed a weapon at children?

P.S. I'm sick of this, and inching closer to home schooling my kids everyday.

UPDATE: (5/31/22) - Later that day Danbury PD updated their press release that read in part:

"After receiving earlier complaints about two males pointing guns at children, officers located both parties at a Danbury residence and placed them under arrest. At the time of arrest, officers recovered a paintball gun from the car described in the initial notification.

One of the arrested parties admitted pointing the paintball gun at people, and the other admitted to his involvement. Both denied the gun was loaded."

Both men are being held on bond pending release or presented to the court. They're facing charges that include:

53a-61aa(a) threatening 1st

53a-181 breach of peace 2nd

29-38 illegal possession of weapons in a motor vehicle, and

53a/48 conspiracy to commit each offense - 3 counts

UPDATE: (6/1/22):

The names of the males that were arrested are Justin Balzarini of Danbury, and Elijah LaPenga of New Milford.

The information above was prepared by Lieutenant Mark Williams

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