‘Person of interest’ in shooting arrested
North Wales man facing weapons, drug charges
MONTGOMERY TWP » An arrest by Montgomery Township police early Tuesday morning involved a man police have confirmed is a person of interest in last week’s reported shooting and SWAT response in Lansdale and North Wales.
Christopher Gring, 39, with a listed address of the 200 block of Elm Avenue in North Wales, was taken into custody after an incident just after midnight Tuesday at a hotel on Bethlehem Pike in Montgomery Township.
According to court documents, Gring was a passenger in a car spotted minutes after midnight July 26 by two officers who had just finished serving a warrant at the Quality Inn on Bethlehem Pike. According to an affidavit filed by those officers, one heard a vehicle traveling south on Bethlehem Pike at high speed, then saw a white Chevrolet Camaro travel at a high speed past the hotel, appearing to be well over the posted 45 mph speed limit, then “moments later” a similar vehicle pulled into the hotel’s parking lot.
After entering the lot, according to police, the vehicle came to a stop with its headlights shining on the two officers, then began driving slowly in their direction. Officers saw the vehicle had “extremely dark tinted windows,” and one officer could hear a female yelling or screaming from inside; the two officers approached as the vehicle parked diagonally across two handicapped parking spaces, and the vehicle stopped but did not shift into park. As officers approached each side, they made contact with the driver, with a man later identified as Gring in the front passenger seat, and with a rear seat passenger. One of the officers seized drug paraphernalia from the driver, police said, and found Gring “was non-compliant… disobeyed commands, made unnatural movements around the vehicle and had to be physically removed from the vehicle at taser-point.”
Officers spoke to all three, and each had “drastically different stories,” police said, while one of the two officers reported seeing the handle of a firearm under Gring’s seat. Based on the seized drug paraphernalia, inconsistent stories, Gring’s behavior and the sight of a weapon with none of the occupants having permission to carry, police
asked for consent to search the car. The driver gave written consent, according to police, and a search found a black handgun with a laser sight and no serial number, one hollow point round in the chamber, one 16-round magazine inserted in the gun with four live rounds, two hollow point and two full metal jacket, and police noted the gun is considered a “ghost gun” with no traceable serial number.
During the search, police said, the officers also found a bag containing empty magazines, a pill bottle under the passenger seat containing dozens of blue pills, and a bag containing two bags of suspected crystal meth and cash. A later search of one of the three persons’ cellphones found a text message to Gring “talking about obtaining Viagra pills to sell,” according to police.
According to court records, Gring was charged
with two felonies for possession of the firearms without a license, along with two misdemeanors for possessing the drug paraphernalia and possessing controlled substances. He was arraigned before District Judge Albert J. Augustine of Skippack on Wednesday and is being held at Montgomery County Correctional Facility after being unable to post $5,000 bail, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 16 before District Judge Andrea Duffy of Montgomery Township.
Lansdale police confirmed to The Reporter Thursday that Gring is considered a person of interest in the discharge of a firearm incident early July 22, when officers responded to a report of shots fired at a house on the unit block of East Third Street. On that day, police said they found no reported injuries, but witnesses reported seeing a black vehicle leave that area. The suspect vehicle was then seen on Wissahickon Avenue in Upper Gwynedd Township, then in the 200 block of Elm Avenue in North Wales, where the Montgomery County SWAT-Central Region team was called in and remained on scene until that afternoon.
As of Thursday afternoon, Gring has not been charged with any crime related to the July 22 incident, and the investigation remains ongoing, Lansdale police said Thursday. According to reporting from North Penn Now, on that day Lansdale police secured search warrants for the suspect’s vehicle and the residence the suspect entered, then notified North Wales police; that department requested help from the SWAT team because a resident later identified as Gring was already facing weapons charges from an incident last year in Montgomery Township.
During the Friday standoff, police identified three persons of interest inside the home: Gring, another adult male, and a juvenile, and none would answer the door; the other adult left the home and was detained on an unrelated summary warrant, then the juvenile left, then Gring, and police searched the home and vehicle but did not have an arrest warrant for any of the suspects at the time, according to North Penn Now.
Reporter readers may recall Gring’s name from a series of incidents previously reported: in fall 2013 he and his wife reportedly stormed onto a North Penn School District bus in North Wales to confront children they believed were bullying their young son; he later pleaded guilty to a thirddegree misdemeanor, according to MediaNews Group archives. Gring has also been convicted of theft from a motor vehicle, DUI, simple assault, retail theft and other offenses in several other criminal cases dating to 2002, per archives; was cited with his brother for a disorderly conduct incident in which he allegedly pointed a replica gun at his brother in Lansdale in August 2014; in May 2015 was charged with assault and harassment after an alleged fistfight with his brother; and in May 2016 was arrested on charges of stealing an iPhone from a restaurant employee.