08 September 2023- A traffic stop for weaving in lanes ends with a Canadian national behind bars in Franklin County and 65 total guns seized. Durante Elijah King-McLean is behind bars on $1,000,000 bail after being charged with 65 counts of felony firearms carried without a license, 11 counts of felony receiving stolen property, one count of felony possession of a firearm with an altered serial number, and one count of misdemeanor evading arrest on foot. McLean is behind bars in Franklin County.
PSP Troopers were on regular patrol on I-81 around 12:30pm on September 2nd when they found a Nissan Sentra with illegal window screening that was allegedly crossing the fog line multiple times. Troopers looked up the registration and found it to be associated with a plumbing company in Florida. Troopers then stopped the car around mm24 outside Shippensburg.
Troopers spoke to the driver, identified as Durante King-McLean from Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, with him allegedly saying it was a rented vehicle and that he was travelling to New York City for a flight. Through a number of questions, police became confused on where the car was from, why the rental agreement was expired, and numerous other problems. During the interview, King-McLean was allegedly outside the car and kept looking at it.
Eventually, police asked to search the vehicle but were denied. However, police in Pennsylvania reserve the right to search a vehicle if the rental agreement is expired, which was previously established through the interview. Thus, Troopers began to search the trunk of the car.
After finding multiple suitcases and a misplaced spare tire, police looked where the tire was supposed to go where they found multiple guns wrapped in socks. Calling for more officers, Troopers then allegedly found King-McLean to flee the area on foot before he was apprehended at the intersection of the interstate ramps and Olde Scotland Road.
Around 1:20am, McLean told police he would not speak about the guns but later relented, saying he knew there were guns in the vehicle but how they were acquired was not disclosed.
The Nissan was subsequently seized and brought back to the station before a search warrant could be executed on it. After receiving it that morning, police searched it and found one hiking backpack, one duffle bag, two black suitcases, and a backpack. In all of these bags police counted 64 pistols in various makes and models, an AK-style semi automatic rifle, and numerous rounds of ammunition. A search of all the firearms found that 11 of them were reported as stolen.
Durante King-McLean is behind bars on $1M bail. His preliminary hearing is set for September 12th.
Sources: Docket Number: MJ-39303-CR-0000116-2023, Incident No.: PA 2023-1148929
