Two Homewood police officers were transported to the hospital Friday, March 11, after suffering non-life-threatening injuries in traffic accidents, according to Homewood Police Chief Denise McGrath.
The crashes occurred while the officers were helping Glenwood police apprehend two car theft suspects, she said.
Glenwood police said the incident began about noon when someone reported a suspicious vehicle at an area gas station. Police determined the vehicle was reported stolen.
The car was located and the suspects, two juveniles, were apprehended. One of them was in possession of a loaded handgun that was altered to fire automatically and equipped with an extended magazine, Glenwood police said.
Evidence from other crimes allegedly was found in the stolen vehicle.
The suspects were turned over to the juvenile court system for charges including vehicle theft, resisting arrest and weapons offenses.
“We believe that the alert citizen’s observations and actions of responding officers likely prevented a serious crime, and did take a dangerous weapon off the street,” Glenwood police said in a Facebook post.