CLAYTON, Ind. — An 18-year-old was arrested after a monthslong investigation into a person of interest in multiple shootings and selling switches, an illegal device that transforms a semi-automatic handgun into a fully automatic “machine gun.”
On their website, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives describes switches as, “a relatively simple, albeit illegal, device that allows a conventional semi-automatic Glock pistol to function as a fully automatic firearm. The switch is classified as a machine gun under federal law.”
For months, IMPD said its officers investigated a person of interest in multiple shootings, including one into an occupied home and another that resulted in a person being shot.
This investigation led officers to 18-year-old Noah Phillips of Clayton, Indiana.
IMPD believed Phillips was shooting a fully automatic Glock and AR-15, as well as selling switches and marijuana.
IMPD, with the help of the Hendricks County SWAT Team and Indiana State Police Emergency Response Team, searched Phillips' home. They also searched his parents' home.
These two searches, plus a traffic stop, led officers to find the following:
- Six handguns
- An AR-15
- Four long guns
- A 3D printable AR-15 full auto drop-in sear that makes any AR-15 fully automatic
- Two drum magazines
- Ammunition
- Marijuana
Phillips was arrested and later charged with the felonies for possession of a machine gun and operating a loaded machine gun. He was also charged with a misdemeanor for possession of marijuana.
