On Monday, February 05, 2018, at 4pm, the Fresno Southwest Special Response Team (SRT) responded to a report of an armed male who was threatening a citizen at Fink White Park. Arriving team members noticed a group of males standing near the playground, where dozens of children were playing.

There were also numerous kids attending the Boys & Girls Club community center, which is adjacent to the playground. The director and other staff members of the club acted quickly by escorting the children inside the center, as the officers safely made contact with the males and searched them for weapons.

One of the males searched was 18-year-old Fresno resident Elijah Pellum, who is a TWAMP gang associate. Tucked and concealed in his waistband was a loaded Interdynamic, nine millimeter, semi-automatic assault pistol with a high-capacity magazine, containing 29 live rounds of ammunition.

Pellum was taken into custody without officers using any force. Pellum’s criminal history includes an arrest for a shooting in 2015. He was arrested and booked for possessing a concealed and loaded firearm as a prior convicted felon. This is the 10th firearm recovered by Southwest SRT this year.