AZTOY
Member
Car rams storefront in $5,000 gun theft
Crime continues rash of weapons burglaries
By Sean Kelly
Denver Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 14, 2003 - ARAPAHOE COUNTY - Burglars crashed a vehicle through the front of a Parker Road gun shop, taking 13 guns in a theft early Monday.
The front windows and door of Rob's Guns, 2020 S. Parker Road, were in shambles and a display case sat broken and empty inside.
"The vehicle drove right through the glass and the metal burglar bars inside," said Arapahoe County sheriff's Capt. Mark Fisher.
It was one of several recent robberies in the metro area targeting guns. Store owners worry that the thieves are becoming more brazen.
"Guns are the contraband of the new millennium. They're like currency on the street," said Dave Anver, owner of Dave's Guns, one of the busiest gun shop in the state.
The burglars hit Rob's at 2:07 a.m. Monday. However, a delay by a security firm in notifying authorities meant deputies did not get the call until 2:15 a.m., Fisher said.
A sheriff's substation is about a mile north on Parker Road. Deputies arrived just two minutes after they were alerted, but by then the burglars were gone.
The vehicle left scrapes of red paint behind, Fisher said. It likely backed up over the sidewalk and into the store, he said.
Investigators traced glass and other debris on South Dayton Street but lost the trail. There was no videotape of the burglary, Fisher said.
The thieves stole 11 handguns and two rifles, totaling more than $5,000 in value. The rifles, an Armalite AR-10 and an Imbel L1A1, were described as "military-style assault weapons."
"Certainly it's disconcerting to law enforcement to know that these weapons are on the street in the hands of a person like this," Fisher said.
Robbing a gun store is a federal offense punishable by more than 10 years in prison. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating.
Workers on Monday fixed the front of the store, which sits in a strip mall. Owner Robert Burke refused to comment on the theft.
Several recent smash-and-grab burglaries have targeted guns. In November, burglars smashed a window at an Arvada Gart Sports store, 7400 W. 52nd Ave., and grabbed $5,000 in guns.
Monday's burglary is a mirror image of a theft in June 2000 at Dave's Guns, a half-mile north of Rob's Guns, when a Chevrolet Suburban crashed through a wall; more than 50 guns were stolen. Most of the guns were found and six people went to prison in connection with that burglary.
Anver said he installed 12-inch steel pipes filled with concrete to stop would-be copycats. "The fact that someone would destroy the structural integrity of your building to get guns, they've got to be pretty desperate people," he said.
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E1108734,00.html?search=filter
Crime continues rash of weapons burglaries
By Sean Kelly
Denver Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 14, 2003 - ARAPAHOE COUNTY - Burglars crashed a vehicle through the front of a Parker Road gun shop, taking 13 guns in a theft early Monday.
The front windows and door of Rob's Guns, 2020 S. Parker Road, were in shambles and a display case sat broken and empty inside.
"The vehicle drove right through the glass and the metal burglar bars inside," said Arapahoe County sheriff's Capt. Mark Fisher.
It was one of several recent robberies in the metro area targeting guns. Store owners worry that the thieves are becoming more brazen.
"Guns are the contraband of the new millennium. They're like currency on the street," said Dave Anver, owner of Dave's Guns, one of the busiest gun shop in the state.
The burglars hit Rob's at 2:07 a.m. Monday. However, a delay by a security firm in notifying authorities meant deputies did not get the call until 2:15 a.m., Fisher said.
A sheriff's substation is about a mile north on Parker Road. Deputies arrived just two minutes after they were alerted, but by then the burglars were gone.
The vehicle left scrapes of red paint behind, Fisher said. It likely backed up over the sidewalk and into the store, he said.
Investigators traced glass and other debris on South Dayton Street but lost the trail. There was no videotape of the burglary, Fisher said.
The thieves stole 11 handguns and two rifles, totaling more than $5,000 in value. The rifles, an Armalite AR-10 and an Imbel L1A1, were described as "military-style assault weapons."
"Certainly it's disconcerting to law enforcement to know that these weapons are on the street in the hands of a person like this," Fisher said.
Robbing a gun store is a federal offense punishable by more than 10 years in prison. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating.
Workers on Monday fixed the front of the store, which sits in a strip mall. Owner Robert Burke refused to comment on the theft.
Several recent smash-and-grab burglaries have targeted guns. In November, burglars smashed a window at an Arvada Gart Sports store, 7400 W. 52nd Ave., and grabbed $5,000 in guns.
Monday's burglary is a mirror image of a theft in June 2000 at Dave's Guns, a half-mile north of Rob's Guns, when a Chevrolet Suburban crashed through a wall; more than 50 guns were stolen. Most of the guns were found and six people went to prison in connection with that burglary.
Anver said he installed 12-inch steel pipes filled with concrete to stop would-be copycats. "The fact that someone would destroy the structural integrity of your building to get guns, they've got to be pretty desperate people," he said.
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E1108734,00.html?search=filter
