A 21-year-old man from Brooklyn and five teenagers were arrested Wednesday morning after a traffic stop ended with the recovery of a ghost gun and an Anne Arundel Police officer pepper spraying a group of people “fighting” and “surrounding” them, according to charging documents.

Due to Maryland’s juvenile justice laws, the five teens were not named by police Thursday, but were identified as a 17-year-old boy, and girls ages 14, 15, 16 and 17.

The only person whose name was released was the driver, Jerlmell Gary Johnson Jr. Johnson’s relationship to the teenagers is unclear.

According to charging documents, a police officer sitting at a turn lane in Brooklyn at about 10:40 Wednesday morning began to pursue Johnson’s Mercedes Benz after the luxury vehicle sped past him. The officer reported that Johnson was driving so fast that his police cruiser “rocked side to side.”

The officer, and another in a different cruiser, followed Johnson into the parking lot of a hotel on Ritchie Highway, near Shelly Road, where the 21-year-old backed into a space. Police said a piece of black tape on the car’s license plate made it impossible to read from the road.

When one of the officers looked into the plate, they discovered it was expired and belonged to another vehicle, according to charging documents. Police said Johnson told them the plate was from his other vehicle.

The officers asked Johnson to step out of the Mercedes for questioning. While doing so, Johnson made a phone call and “seemed very jumpy and nervous,” police wrote. Several minutes later, a woman who identified herself as Johnson’s sister arrived and stood “in very close proximity” to the traffic stop, according to charging documents.

During the stop, the woman removed a black handbag or purse from the Mercedes and began walking toward a nearby restaurant. When the second officer ordered her to stop, the woman “began to run,” starting a foot chase that ended with her being detained.

While being taken back to the hotel lot, the woman began yelling at “unknown persons” for help, police said. A crowd began to gather around the Mercedes, police said, and several people began yelling at the officers, while some tried to “forcibly remove” the black bag from their possession.

It was not clear in charging documents how many people in the group knew Johnson or were passengers in his car.

When six people surrounded police, the first officer used his department-issued pepper spray to stop the group from grabbing at him and the bag, according to charging documents. The bag was knocked out of the police officer’s hands and onto the ground. Then someone in the group kicked it to another person, who began running, police said.

Another officer who arrived at the scene apprehended that person and took custody of the bag, finding a black ghost gun inside with six rounds in the magazine and five loose bullets, according to charging documents. A ghost gun is a weapon made with parts that have no serial numbers, making them very difficult to trace.

While police were “fighting with the large group,” Johnson tried pulling away from the officers “on multiple occasions,” police said.

Six people, including Johnson, were arrested after Monday morning’s incident. In addition to 10 traffic citations, court records show Johnson was charged with concealing a dangerous weapon, possessing a firearm without a serial number, resisting arrest and obstructing and hindering, all misdemeanors.

According to the Maryland Judiciary, Johnson, who has had dozens of traffic citations since 2021, is being held without bail and does not yet have an attorney.

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