IT WAS RAINING GUNS

Thrown Off Balcony In A Drug Raid, They Just Miss Cop

Three guns -- two of them cocked, loaded and ready to fire -- were
thrown off a balcony in a drug raid yesterday, says a police officer
who was standing underneath.

"They nearly hit me in the head," said Sgt. Don MacCallum. "They were
absolutely guns. They were cocked and the safety was off."

Smashed Door

MacCallum was standing below the third-floor balcony of an apartment
at Lawrence Ave. W. and Keele St. early yesterday as other cops
smashed down the door with a battering ram.

That's when the weapons -- a .45-calibre, a 9-mm and a .25-calibre,
all loaded -- began falling around him.

MacCallum said 22 Division's Street Violence Task Force and Community
Response Unit started an investigation into street-level drug and gun
crooks in early spring.

During that investigation, a car with a hidden compartment for moving
guns and drugs was seized.

A June 1 raid on a home near Lake Shore Blvd. and Royal York Rd. that
netted an assault rifle, a loaded, .38-calibre handgun and $16,000
worth of drugs was related to yesterday's raids, MacCallum said.

In yesterday's raid, police seized 800 grams of cocaine, 11 grams of
ecstasy and marijuana worth $85,000 in total, along with scales and
$2,000 cash. After a brief struggle, five men were arrested.

At the same time, a home on Cameron Ave. was being raided where a man
and his wife were arrested.

Seized were about 220 grams of marijuana, 28 grams of crystal
methamphetamine and a small amount of crack cocaine, worth $8,000.

Police also found scales, a money-counting machine, a bullet-proof
vest and three different kinds of ammunition for semi-automatic weapons.

Warrant Issued

A warrant was then issued for the couple's son, but as officers sat
outside waiting for the delivery of a search warrant on a car parked
at the home, they spotted their quarry driving by.

He was promptly arrested, and police were soon requesting another
search warrant for the vehicle he was driving.

"We've made a significant impact" on the local drug trade, said an
exhausted MacCallum, who had been up for more than 30 hours at the
time.

Steven Ruiz, 25, Walter Almeida, 21, Shane Fischer, 22, Ken Yu, 23,
and Manuel Perea, 24, were arrested at the apartment on Lawrence, and
25 drug and weapons charges were laid.

Christopher Noseworthy, 45, and his wife Christina Noseworthy, 47,
were arrested at Cameron Ave.

Their son Sean Noseworthy was also arrested, and all three face drug
trafficking offences.