News: Police investigating Hardy Avenue gun incidents

Rome police are investigating two incidents that happened over the weekend on Hardy Avenue.

According to agency reports:

Police found a gun reported stolen from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in an abandoned backpack early Sunday.

Officers responding to complaints of a large, loud crowd in the 500 block about 3 a.m. noticed a small gray backpack tucked behind a garbage can on a porch. No one claimed it and, in checking the inside for identification, police saw a gun.

In addition to the Rock Island Armory .45 ACP tactical pistol, later determined to be stolen from the ATF, police found two 9 mm Luger rounds, miscellaneous clothes and personal hygiene items and six Amoxicillan antibiotic tablets.

Police also had been called to Hardy Avenue, in the 400 block, about the same time Saturday morning when a resident reported his 1993 Mercury Grand Marquis had just been riddled with bullets. The man was inside his home at the time and no injuries were reported.

Investigators at the scene determined there were at least two shooters. One fired a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson from the east to the west; another shot a 9 mm Luger from the west to the east.

Pieces of a side mirror also were found on the street, so it’s possible another car was also hit and driven away from the area.