By Jorge Casuso

May 27, 2021 -- Santa Monica police continued confiscating illegal guns from those visiting the city with the sixth firearms arrest this month coming on Wednesday.

Robert Ambriz-Garcia, a 22-year-old male from Los Angeles, was arrested after officers saw a car near the 100 block of Olympic Drive blocking a traffic lane, police said.

The vehicle had "its hazard lights flashing and playing loud music," said Police Department spokesman Rudy Flores. Police found that the vehicle "had its windows rolled down and was unoccupied," Flores said. "In plain view was an alcoholic beverage and a 9mm Beretta 92FS firearm." Ambriz-Garcia quickly approached the officers and said he had left the vehicle "briefly unattended" while he went to the Starbucks at Main Street and Olympic, Flores said.

"The subject proceeded to state he did not have proper identification and subsequently provided officers with a false name."

Ambriz-Garcia was arrested and booked for providing false identification, leaving a handgun unsecured in an unattended vehicle and transporting an unsecured firearm in a vehicle.

It was the sixth firearms arrest in Santa Monica ince May 2, according to police.

Two of the arrests were made on May 17. In one incident a convicted felon was arrested at around 1 a.m. after walking into a convenience store with a gun holstered in his waistband ("Police Make Fifth Firearms Arrest in Less Than Six Weeks," May 17, 2021).

In the other, a 27-year-old woman was arrested after firing a handgun near a woman pushing a stroller filled with belongings in an alley on the 2400 block of Ocean Park Boulevard.

Detectives found a loaded 9mm handgun with no make or model inside the suspect's vehicle and arrested her for assault with a firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm ("Burglary Suspect Arrested, Shooting Suspect Charged," May 20, 2021).

On May 8, officers responding to two possible prowlers in a North of Montana neighborhood recovered a loaded firearm on the passenger in the getaway vehicle ("Police Make Weekend Arrests for Attempted Murder, Possession of Handgun," May 10, 2021).

Earlier this month, police made two separate arrests over a three-day stretch involving firearms. One incident took place on May 4 near the UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center, the other on May 2 in Ocean Park. ("Santa Monica Police Make Two Firearms Arrests," May 5, 2021)

Anyone with additional information pertaining to Wednesday's arrest or the suspect should call the Criminal Investigations Division 310-458-451 or Santa Monica Department’s Watch Commander (24 hours) at 310-458-8427.