Authorities in California on Wednesday confiscated more than 500 firearms and 100,000 rounds of ammunition in the state's largest illegal weapons seizure from a single home.
The massive cache was taken from a Fresno County man who had been prohibited from possessing firearms due to a previous mental health hold, said Kamala Harris, the state's attorney general.
California Department of Justice agents arrested Albert Sheakalee, 59, for illegal firearms possession. They told local outlet ABC30 News that Sheakalee was formerly a federal arms dealer. He was released after posting $11,000 bail, prosecutors said.
His collection included 209 handguns, 88 shotguns, 234 rifles, 181 standard-capacity magazines, 10 high-capacity magazines, 100,521 rounds of various ammunition, and 10 assault weapons, the attorney general's office said.
Sheakalee lost his license to sell firearms last year and his right to own them this year, ABC30 News reported. He was treated for mental health issues three times in June, and his name was added to state’s Armed Prohibited Persons System.
The attorney general's office describes that system as a first-of-its-kind automated database that tracks owners of handguns or assault weapons "who might fall into a prohibited status."
"Obviously when a person is admitted into a hospital for a mental health hold it's because he's believed to be a danger to himself or to the public," DOJ Special Agent-In-Charge Michael Haroldsen told ABC30.
Harris said the raid is proof of APPS's continuing success.
Since November 2013, the number of individuals in APPS has been reduced by nearly half, dropping to a historic low, her office said.
"Over the last two years, the California Department of Justice has doubled the average number of guns seized annually and increased the number of investigations per month by nearly 300%, allowing special agents to conduct 17,465 investigations as of October 30, 2015," the office said in a release.
"Removing firearms from dangerous and violent individuals who pose a threat to themselves and the public is a top priority for the California Department of Justice," Harris said in the release. "I thank our Bureau of Firearms Special Agents for their bravery in carrying out these dangerous investigations and their commitment to keeping our communities safe."
Shaklee's son told the station he and his father run a weapons dealership out of the home and that all but one of the firearms were registered to either himself or his father.
Even if the weapons were registered, Haroldsen said, it was concerning to see how they were being stored.
"These firearms were not stored in safes or locked up, so anyone breaking into his home would have had access to any of these guns," he said.