Another Gun store burglarized

[kjeff50cal]

Major weapons cache stolen from gun shopAuthorities worry about gang connections


http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=local&id=3553644

By Darren Lyn
(10/19/05 - KTRK/ANGLETON, TX) - Angleton police are looking for the person responsible for a gun shop heist, where nearly 100 weapons were stolen. The burglary took place early Wednesday morning, and police believe they may be headed into the hands of gang members.

The cache of weapons was stolen from the AAMI Firearms shop between 4am and 5am Wednesday. Angleton police are trying to catch whoever did this before someone gets hurt.
Investigators say the burglar broke into the gun shop by cutting the phone lines, disarming the alarm system and removing the burglar bars from the windows. Altogether, nearly 100 weapons were stolen -- 51 semi-automatic handguns, 32 assault rifles, an array of knives and boxes of ammunition.

"It's a real concern what people are going to do with guns like that," admitted shop owner Jane Downing.

Police say the strange part about this burglary is that no money was stolen, only the weapons. That has them very concerned.

"They could get in the hands of some gang members, such as the Mexican Mafia," said Angleton Police Sgt. Kirk Coleman. "So you've got the problems down along the Texas border in Nuevo Laredo. There is speculation they could be headed that way."

The only clue investigators have right now is that a brand new red Mustang with paper tags was seen leaving the gun shop. If you have any information, you're asked to contact Angleton police. A cash reward is being offered. You can call Brazoria County Crime Stoppers at 979-849-TIPS.
(Copyright © 2005, KTRK-TV)

What in the is going on here

kjeff50cal

 

[HighVelocity]

Cut phone lines, disabled alarm, removed burglar bars...

Definitely not your typical smash and grab. These guys knew what they wanted and had a plan.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Police say the strange part about this burglary is that no money was stolen, only the weapons.

Mighty strange!

 

[Spot77]

Reinforces the idea that you should ALWAYS pay close attention to your surroundings. I can't imagine that the people responsible for this didn't check the place out many times before pulling this off. Maybe the shopowners got complacent and fell into predictable routines......

Time to check the door and window locks....good night all.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Investigators say the burglar broke into the gun shop by cutting the phone lines, disarming the alarm system and removing the burglar bars from the windows

Apparently, the gunstore owner made a lot of bad decisions leading up to the robbery as this should not have been able to occur if he took proper precautions. For example,

1. Since the alarm would undoubtedly be connected to an alarm company, that would happen by phone lines. The alarm company should have been able to recognize the loss of connection and notified the owner and/or police unless the owner didn't pay for that feature.

2. If the alarm was not connected to an alarm company, then the owner screwed up.

3. Burglar bars are best suited to be inside the windows instead of outside. Exterior bars can be defeated without actually breeching the store. Bars inside the glass means breaking the glass to get to the bars. Either the alarm sensor should have picked up the breaking glass sound or the alarm tape on the windows should have broken to trigger an alarm because of the breech. So the alarm should have been triggered BEFORE the burglars made physical entry which required defeating the bars. Of course, this would only matter if connected to the alarm company.

4. There should have been video to document the robbery.

5. If the alarm system was so lacking, then the owner should have done a better job of securing the firearms.

Maybe not of great interest or relevance, but I wonder if the owner was still living behind the shop. In March 2004, this apparently was the case...
http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-73135.html

The police thought it strange that no money was taken. My guess is that the money was better secured that the guns.