PANAMA CITY BEACH — Officers arrested an Indiana man Monday at about 3 a.m. after security at a condominium complex reported seeing a gun in the man’s lap as he entered the complex in a vehicle, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office announced.
The search for the gun ultimately ended in the discovery of cocaine packaged for sale, BCSO reported.
Security guards stopped the car to verify the driver was a guest at the complex. At that time the guard saw a .40-caliber Ruger handgun in the man’s lap. Deputies were informed by security about the firearm and made contact with the man identified as Dominique Gipson, 19.
Gipson told deputies he had been holding a pellet gun and not an actual firearm. Gipson also stated that once he knew security had seen the pellet gun, he threw it from the roof of the eighth floor of the parking garage.
Deputies searched but did not find the pellet gun in the parking garage or the ground below. They then spoke to Gipson’s girlfriend and she told them he put the gun in a trash can near the room. Deputies found a 40 caliber Ruger in a trash can near Gipson’s condo.
Gipson was arrested for carrying a concealed firearm and taken to the Bay County Jail. As he was searched at the jail, a black bag was found in his possession. This bag contained several small baggies of cocaine packaged for sale, two pills, and marijuana in tissue paper and in a small plastic bag.
Gipson, of Fishers, Indiana, was additionally charged with resisting without violence, possession of a firearm while committing a felony, introduction of drugs into a correctional facility, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of medication without a prescription.