Feds accuse man of running and gunning

Nicholas G. Gutierrez was in enough trouble, when he fled from police July 15.

Police pulled him over near 7th Street and Cambridge Avenue in Kansas City, but he sped off in a Chevrolet Avalanche before the officer could question him about not having a valid drivers license, federal court records said. About 10 blocks down the road, a witness reported to officers that he’d seen someone in the truck Gutierrez had been driving toss a handgun out the window.

Officers recovered the gun, arrested Gutierrez and, soon enough, found his felony record. In 2008 he’d been convicted of being a drug user in possession of a firearm. For that Gutierrez served a 15-month federal prison sentence.

But Gutierrez caught a break: Officers let him go until tests came back from the lab showing whether his DNA was on the gun.

On Monday, police in Independence reported that he again was trying to elude officers, this time in a silver Honda Civic, court records said. When officers caught up with him in the 2300 block of Myrtle, they checked under the drivers seat of the Civic, and purportedly found another handgun. This one stolen from a gun store in Liberty.

So this week federal prosecutors charged Gutierrez with two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. A judge will decide Monday whether to release him on bond pending trial.

This story was originally published January 31, 2015 at 9:16 PM with the headline "Feds accuse man of running and gunning."