A report that a group of teenagers threatened a person with a gun last Thursday in the Northgate neighborhood resulted in five arrests and turned up four guns, including a short-barreled rifle and extended magazines, according to the Salem Police Department.

Four teen boys ages 15 to 17 and a 19-year-old woman were arrested Friday on various accusations including unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm, first-degree theft and misdemeanor eluding police, Salem police said in a news release Monday afternoon.

Juvenile court records are generally confidential under state law, and Salem Reporter does not typically identify minors facing allegations in juvenile court or adults who have not been formally charged with a crime that is not a significant felony. Court records showed no charges filed against the woman as of Monday afternoon and the Marion County Jail’s roster did not list her as being in custody at that time.

The arrests stemmed from a report that a group of teens used a firearm to threaten “a community member” on Kacey Circle sometime Thursday, Feb. 27, according to the police statement.

The next day, patrol officers found and stopped a car which police said was related to the earlier incident. Five teens were in the car.

One boy fled to a nearby residence on Northeast Fultz Avenue. “Officers on scene were able to negotiate with the occupants to have the male come out,” police said in the statement.

Officers at the time found a handgun, seized the car and arrested the teens.

In the days that followed, police said they got a warrant to search the car and found two additional handguns.

Members of Salem police’s SWAT Team and detectives with the Strategic Investigations Unit searched the Fultz Avenue residence. They found a loaded short-barreled rifle, several other loaded magazines and ammunition and seven pounds of marijuana.

Images released by the agency on Monday showed three high-capacity magazines seized during the investigation, including one drum-style magazine. 

Measure 114, passed by Oregon voters in 2022, banned high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. 

A city report in November 2023 found that shootings in Salem had doubled in recent years, and the number of teens arrested for serious assaults had tripled. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office is conducting similar research into gun violence outside Salem city limits and plans to release its findings in the coming weeks, according to agency spokesman Sgt. Jeremy Schwab.

Troy Gregg, director of the Marion County Juvenile Department, also told Salem Reporter last year that his agency had seen a rise in juvenile allegations related to weapons, typically related to gangs.

Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.

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