Neal Crasnow described the gun heist from his store on Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando, Florida, early on Tuesday like a scene out of a movie..
The burglar ripped a hole in the ceiling of Al's Army Navy store, shimmied down a rope and climbed back up with two bags filled with more than 70 guns.
"It must be Spider-Man," Crasnow said. "I can't think of who else [could have done this]."
The burglary happened sometime after midnight without setting off any alarms.
"He dropped in the middle of the floor where there aren't alarms," said Crasnow.
Blood found on a pipe on the outside of the building appeared to show "how the suspect was able to get on and off the roof," the police report stated.
Shortly after 2am Orange County deputies in the area investigating a series of car burglaries instead found 19-year-old Gary Jahmel Shaquan Elliott, who was bleeding from a wound on his right arm. According to a sheriff's report released on Wednesday, a deputy first spotted Elliott dressed in dark clothing and pedalling a heavily loaded tricycle. That's when the teenager made an abrupt turn behind a duplex residence and disappeared.
The tricycle was found abandoned with a backpack and two large black bags filled with guns.
"Inside...I saw multiple handguns with Al's Army-Navy price tags and serial numbers," Deputy Matthew Vinson wrote. "There was also spray can bottles and (a) crowbar in one of the bags. I also could see blood on most of the handguns as well as the handlebars of the bicycle."
Elliott was caught as he tried to walk away from the area.
The deputies contacted the Orlando Police Department and held Elliott.
A check of the gun shop did not find immediate signs of the break-in.
But an officer looked through the front door and saw the hole in the ceiling that a sheriff's helicopter crew also spotted.
After the door was unlocked, three glass display cases were found shattered. And black paint was sprayed on the floor in an attempt to cover blood.
Elliott was charged with armed burglary of a structure with a firearm, third-degree grand theft of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and criminal mischief.
He remains held without bail on an additional charge of violating probation on his felony conviction for robbery with a dangerous weapon. The teen has been arrested five times before on various charges.
All but four pistols of about 75 handguns and long guns stolen in the burglary were recovered.
There's a news video here.
2 comments:
The person who should be receiving the harshest penalty here is the store owner. Surely firearms should be kept under the strictest security? In this case there was virtually no security.
There was security, Gareth. And no, the store owner should not receive a penalty when he is engaging in a lawful business and was the one victimized by this thug/thief, who is a multiple offender.
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