“Mr. Kolozie reached for a knife that was on the table and [ATF] Special Agent [Brian] Higgins stopped him and had him sit at the kitchen table,” said a police report. “[East Bridgewater police] Sergeant [Michael] McLaughlin stood in the living room keeping himself between the knife and Mr. Kolozie.”

But when a couple of lawmen came to his East Bridgewater apartment Friday evening to talk to him, he didn’t reach for a gun. Instead, police say, he went for a knife.

James Kolozie got on law enforcement’s radar when he allegedly made an online purchase of firearm parts stolen from a federal facility, court records show.


Initially, the report said, Kolozie had answered his door when Higgins and McLaughlin came knocking and invited them up to his pad before reaching for the knife.

And McLaughlin, former master sniper of a regional SWAT team, spotted something else that piqued his interest: a spent shell casing on the shelf by the television, the report said.

Kolozie “stated that he had reloading equipment but no gun parts,” the filing said, but his story quickly changed.

“Mr. Kolozie then stated that he did have a [10-inch] barrel for an AR15 under his bed” and gave Higgins permission to retrieve it, the report said. “ ... When Special Agent Higgins slid the plastic Tupperware style container from under the bed and took out the white tube Mr. Kolozie had described Sergeant McLaughlin observed several AR15 parts in this Tupperware container.”

McLaughlin, the report said, “noted there were two buffer bags, a buffer tube and a rear stock for an AR15. Sergeant McLaughlin also observed a loaded .22 caliber large capacity magazine in the same Tupperware container.”

That was enough to arrest Kolozie on a charge of possession of ammunition without an FID card or license to carry, and police obtained a search warrant to continue scouring the residence while Kolozie sat in lockup, records show.


Here’s a partial list of seized items:

“Found was an AR15 style assault weapon chambered in 5.56mm with a bayonet lug, collapsible rear stock, pistol grip and threaded barrel,” the report said. “This weapon was in a green soft gun case located under Mr. Kolozie’s bed with no locking device attached. Also located under the bed was a black nylon case containing a Colt Commander 1911 style pistol on a frame with no serial number on it, and no locking device affixed. Throughout the apartment was located many rounds of ammunition and ammunition components for making ammunition. Located in various locations, including in the cases with the weapons, were a total of 19 large capacity feeding devices (Magainzes).”

The report also noted that Kolozie, a former Whitman resident, had received a license to carry in that town but had his license suspended in 2017 after “an incident at the Burlington Mall.” Further details about the mall episode weren’t immediately available.

East Bridgewater police said in a separate statement that “several hundred rounds of ammunition of various sizes” were seized from Kolozie’s apartment Friday along with “dozens of parts to various firearms and several components for manufacturing ammunition,” and that “Kolozie may be facing additional federal charges as a result of his arrest.”

For now he has to deal with the state case, which is pretty daunting.

He faces 19 counts of possession of a large capacity feeding device, plus charges including possession of ammunition without an FID card or license to carry, improper firearm storage, improper storage of a large-capacity firearm, possession of a firearm without an FID card, and unlicensed sale or possession of an assault weapon, records show.


A not-guilty plea was entered on Kolozie’s behalf Monday at arraignment in Brockton District Court, and cash bail was set at $15,000, according to legal filings. Should he post, Kolozie must remain on home confinement and submit to GPS monitoring, records show.

His next hearing is slated for May 24. A lawyer for Kolozie couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

A booking sheet and Kolozie’s personal Facebook page identified him Friday as an employee of Ackles Steel & Iron Co. in Waltham.

Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @TAGlobe.