A strong breeze nearly blew the D.C. police storefront operation early on.
While an undercover cop pulled out cash to buy a gun inside the office of a fake auto body shop, two police officers were hiding in the next room recording the transaction.
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A sudden wind gusted through the body shop, causing the door behind which Detective Vincent Witkowski and his recording equipment were concealed to fly open.
Witkowski froze.
The bad guy never noticed, and the sting went off with a further hitch, police said.
“Did anybody catch on? Yeah, we had a couple of guys who didn’t want to meet there, but really, we had little detection,” said Sgt. Dale Sutherland.
Police said the buys were nerve-wracking. Undercover officers had to stay cool while hardened thugs pulled out weapons from waistbands and racked rounds in a small, closed-in space.
“It takes a lot of courage to buy 110 weapons from real criminals,” Sutherland said.
