By Bruno Matarazzo Jr.
Staff Writer
August 08, 2008 05:30 am SALEM — Two city police detectives tangled with a man they spotted with a gun under his shirt, though neither officer was wearing a bullet-proof vest. Detectives John Doyle and Eric Connolly saw what they believed to be a handgun protruding from Roberto Padilla's shirt. The object turned out to be a loaded .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver. Padilla, 20, of Lynn, now faces charges of carrying a firearm without a license, unlawful possession of ammunition and resisting arrest. Padilla is known by detectives to frequent the Point neighborhood. "Padilla's activity in the Point section has been a concern for police in the recent past," a police report said. Padilla, who used to live in Salem, was shot in the leg in a drive-by shooting while on a porch at 35 Palmer St., in March 2007. Yesterday, Doyle and Connolly were returning from serving a warrant for an identity fraud. They stopped by the Point neighborhood in an unmarked cruiser on their way back to the police station. The detectives spotted Padilla walking on Leavitt Street after he had gotten off a bus and they became alarmed at the size of an object under his shirt. They started to speak with Padilla and he became quickly "apprehensive," the report said. "The closer contact with Padilla the more evident was the item under the shirt," the report said. "Suspecting the item may be a handgun, the officers attempted to pat frisk Padilla." Padilla became "physically defensive" and began to flee, according to a Salem police report. The detectives struggled with Padilla, who they say was trying to reach for the gun. Neither Doyle nor Connolly were wearing bullet-proof vests, and were in business attire, according to police.
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