School safety app tip leads detectives to unsecured guns in Santa Rosa home; 18-year-old arrested

SANTA ROSA, Calif. -- Santa Rosa police arrested an 18-year-old man earlier this week after an anonymous tip sent through a school safety app led detectives to firearms inside a home.

In a statement Wednesday, the Santa Rosa Police Department said administrators at Montgomery High School contacted officers on Nov. 11 after receiving a STOPit app tip containing a photo of three people with obscured faces holding guns. The image appeared to be taken inside a residence.

Detectives later identified one of the individuals as Axel Silverio Guzman Palomino, an 18-year-old Santa Rosa resident who is not a student in the Santa Rosa City Schools district.

Detectives served a search warrant at Guzman Palomino's home in the 800 block of Aston Avenue at about 7:05 a.m. Tuesday, police said. Inside a bedroom he shares with his 2-year-old son, officers allegedly found an AR-15 pistol, a .22-caliber rifle, a Glock 43 pistol, ammunition and a 3D-printed pistol component.

Police allege the guns were unsecured, and at least one is believed to be among those seen in the photograph.

Palomino was taken into custody at the home and booked into Sonoma County Jail on suspicion of possession of an assault weapon, child endangerment, possession of a non-serialized firearm, and criminal storage of a firearm. His child was not present during the search and remains in the custody of the child's mother, police said.

Detectives clarified they found no evidence linking the firearms or the photo to Montgomery High School and do not believe any of the weapons were brought to a school campus. Still, police said the anonymous STOPit report helped remove "dangerous and illegally owned firearms off the street."