Local man arrested on weapons charges
A Washington man was arrested early Monday on weapons charges after city police found a handgun on the Seventh Ward playground while responding to a report of shots fired in the area.
Isaac Gonda, 34, of 356 Burton Ave., is charged with person not to possess a firearm, carrying a firearm without a license and resisting arrest.
City and East Washington police responded to the 400 block of Shirls Avenue after getting a report about 3 a.m. of shots being fired in the area. A man, later identified as Gonda, was seen standing inside the fenced area of the playground. He was wearing a dark, long-sleeved hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants.
Gonda was ordered to get out of the playground, and police say he climbed the fence. Police checked him and found he was wearing a holster attached to a belt around his waist. Police said they searched inside the playground and found a .40-caliber Taurus handgun on the ground near where Gonda had been standing. There were seven rounds in the gun’s magazine and one in the chamber.
When police told him the gun had been found, he allegedly tried to break free from the grasp of the officers. He was taken to the ground and handcuffed. As officers walked him to the patrol car, he again tried to run, police said. He also allegedly gave police a false name.
Gonda also faces charges of solicitation to commit terroristic threats, criminal trespass and harassment stemming from a June 29 incident. He is accused of going to the home of an off-duty Washington police officer and confronting him about a citation for driving with a suspended license the officer had issued to him in late May. Gonda was reportedly yelling obscenities at the officer, who asked him to leave several times. Gonda was gone when city police arrived.
In 2009, Gonda was sentenced to two to five years in prison after pleading guilty to a firearms violation and possession of marijuana stemming from a 2007 incident in South Strabane Township.
Gonda was arraigned on the most recent charges before District Judge Mark Wilson and placed in Washington County Jail on $25,000 bond. He faces an Aug. 3 hearing before District Judge Robert Redlinger on the most recent charges and an Aug. 24 hearing, also before Redlinger, in connection with the June incident.