AUGUSTA — Two gun-carrying New Yorkers are facing charges after allegedly threatening a woman who offered them a soda.
Helen Testagrose, 44, of Ozone Park, N.Y., was arrested on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle, said Augusta Police Sgt. Christopher Shaw.
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Shatavia Walls, 25, of Queens, was charged with criminal threatening, Shaw said.
Both were being held Thursday at the Kennebec County jail. Testagrose was being held in lieu of $2,000 bail and Walls on $1,000 bail.
Police were called to Court Street around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday by a woman who said she had been threatened by one of three people sitting in a car parked outside of her building.
“A female from Court Street came down and offered them a soda,” Shaw said. “She then asked them to move along because they were blocking her driveway. A lady in the back seat said some nasty things and made a threatening comment. It appeared she was reaching for a weapon.”
Before making the threat, the people in the car reportedly told the woman they were visiting someone in the jail. Shaw said police have been unable to determine who, if anyone, they were trying to visit.
The woman who said she was threatened left and called police with a description of the car. Police caught up with the car, a Nissan Maxima with New York license plates, on Green Street near the Chapel Street intersection.
Testagrose was driving and Walls was in the back seat, Shaw said. A third person, a 23-year-old Bronx man, was in the front passenger’s seat. That man is facing no charges, Shaw said.
Shaw said the passengers were cooperative and consented to a search of the vehicle. Officers found two handguns concealed inside, and both were loaded, Shaw said.
Police impounded the car and got a warrant to search it more thoroughly, Shaw said.
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