DA announces 46 arrests to address gangs concern

Anniston, Al.

Calhoun County District Attorney Brian McVeigh

Law enforcement officials from across Calhoun County and the state arrested 46 people in Anniston and Hobson City during an early-morning warrant round-up, Calhoun County District Attorney Brian McVeigh said in a noon press conference today.

McVeigh said the warrant round-up happened at 6 a.m. and was the beginning of a “street-level operation” to address concerns about gang activity in Anniston and Hobson City.

The impromptu conference lasted about 30 seconds on the steps of the Calhoun County Courthouse, where nine police officials from various county and state agencies gathered to stand behind McVeigh as he spoke. No Calhoun County residents were present at the conference; only a few media representatives who found out about the event by making their daily visits to police stations or checking law-enforcement Facebook and Twitter accounts showed up.

McVeigh said the agencies involved had agreed to not take questions after his brief remarks.

The 46 suspects taken into custody this morning included people “with or without” suspected gang affiliation and were arrested on a variety of outstanding warrants, the district attorney said.

He said officials now were booking those suspects into the Calhoun County Jail. A list of names for those arrested was not provided at the conference. Also unknown is whether those people who are suspected gang members have affiliations with the Taliban Clan and YNTO, two groups that McVeigh specifically identified as criminal gangs in a September press release.