GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A road rage incident involving a fake gun led Gwinnett County police to a convicted felon with eight real ones.
Two teenagers were driving on Lawrenceville Suwanee Road near Suwanee just before noon on Feb. 26 when police say a man in a white pickup truck cut them off, slammed his brakes and swerved in front of them. Dashcam video shows the truck’s rear sliding window open and a hand reach through holding what appeared to be a gun.
The young women pulled over and called 911, giving officers a description of the driver and his tag number.
Cpl. Ryan Winderweedle with Gwinnett County police said the women did exactly what they should have.
“They saw a weapon. They obtained the tag number,” he said.
On Monday, that tag led detectives to a home in Lawrenceville where 39-year-old Nicolas Andrew Violante lives with his father. Police obtained a search warrant looking for the gun used in the road rage incident.
What they found instead were eight additional guns in an unlocked gun cabinet. The gun pointed at the women turned out to be a BB gun with no orange tip.
But Violante is a convicted felon. Police say he was never supposed to have access to any of those guns. Ammunition for six of them was in his bedroom, police say.
Violante now faces felony firearms charges on top of misdemeanor counts for aggressive driving and simple assault against both women. Warrants show his license was also suspended from a DUI conviction last year.
“You don’t know what the other party’s thinking or what levels they’re willing to take it to,” Winderweedle said.
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