A Fresh Meadows father and son are criminally charged with possessing an arsenal of loaded ghost gun assault weapons that were found after a court-authorized search was executed at their home on Wednesday.
Hyung-Suk Woo, 26, and his father, Jin-In Woo, 55, of 198th Street, were arraigned late Wednesday night on a 130-count indictment charging them with 97 counts of criminal possession of a weapon and a slew of other charges after the raid uncovered the assault weapons, as well as silencers made with a 3-D printer and other weapons-related paraphernalia, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced Thursday.
The DA’s office conducted an investigation into Hyung-Suk Woo’s purchase of polymer-based firearm components that are easily assembled into operable and untraceable ghost guns, according to the charges.
On Feb. 14, officers from the NYPD and the DA’s Detective Bureau executed the search warrant at the defendant’s home and recovered two loaded and fully assembled AR-15 style ghost gun assault rifles, two loaded and fully assembled 9 mm semiautomatic ghost gun pistols with assault weapon characteristics, and a loaded and fully assembled 9 mm semiautomatic ghost gun pistol.
They also seized fifty-eight high-capacity ammunition feeding devices, a ballistic vest and ballistic helmet, four firearm silencers which they personally manufactured utilizing 3-D printing, a drill press and other tools used to manufacture and assemble ghost guns and approximately 1,000 rounds of ammo, according to the charges.
The defendants were arraigned before Queens Criminal Court Judge Jeffrey Gershuny on Wednesday night and they each face up to 15 years in prison.
“Getting guns off our streets is my highest priority,” Katz said. “That commitment has made my office a leader in the fight against ghost guns. Last year, we recovered 31% of the 359 ghost guns seized citywide and we have led the city in ghost gun recoveries every year since 2021.”
The raid at the Woo’s home was the fourth successful ghost gun investigation by the DA’s office so far in 2024. According to the DA’s office, Queens is leading NYC with 63% of the 57 total ghost guns recovered citywide so far this year.
“We will keep fighting the gun plague with everything we have,” Katz said. “Every gun seized is a tragedy averted.”
