AKRON, Ohio — A shooting in Cleveland and a murder in Illinois could be closer to getting solved because of some work done on a gun range by Summit County detectives.
Five guns, which were seized during investigations, were test-fired, and it was determined that two of the weapons matched guns used in two unsolved crimes, according to Summit County Inspector Bill Holland.
Sometimes these cases, the missing piece of evidence in these cases could be the firearm," Holland said.
The Gun Violence Reduction Team, which combines Akron police, Summit County detectives, and federal agents, has existed for about 10 years.
The unit has taken thousands of guns off the streets and, potentially, out of the hands of dangerous people.
"We've noticed a significant increase in gun violence in our area over the past few years," Holland said.
Investigators explained that guns seized from crime scenes or recovered during investigations are routinely test-fired at gun ranges as police try to determine if the weapons were used in any other local crimes or crimes anywhere else in the U.S.
Last week, a Summit County detective selected five handguns for ballistics testing.
Another detective fired several rounds, collected the casings and the guns and took them to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation for further testing.
The evidence was entered into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), a program that compares ballistic evidence to aid in solving crimes involving guns.
"The database nationwide has over 5 million pieces of evidence stored within it," Holland said.
Holland said NIBIN looks for unique characteristics to help link guns to crimes.
"What the computer system is looking for is firing pin marks, ejection marks, any kind of unique identifying marks produced by a certain firearm," Holland said.
The Summit County detectives discovered that two of the guns they fired matched unsolved shootings.
"One of which was in Cleveland, " Holland said. "It was a shots fired call and felonious assault in Cleveland. And the other hit was for a homicide the occurred in the state of Illinois."
Further details about those crimes have not been released, but the agencies have been provided with new information about the guns to assist with their investigations.
