A gun store was burglarized and dozens of weapons were stolen while Atlanta police tended to riots up the street.
The Georgia city was one of several in the United States to experience riots that broke out during what started as peaceful protests aimed at ending racial injustice and policing brutality. Several Atlanta businesses were broken into on Saturday, including a burglary at Chuck’s Firearms.
“They were here to take advantage of the opportunity of police not being able to be dispatched and address the normal crime,” store owner Jim Hinsdale told Fox 5.
Hinsdale noted that police would have typically arrived at the scene within minutes of the shop’s alarm being triggered, but with protests and riots popping up throughout the city, the gun store’s alarm was no longer a priority.
Surveillance footage showed four masked men smash the glass display cases and grab as many firearms as they could take. In total, the thieves took 42 handguns.
“All semi-automatic handguns, a couple of revolvers. One was $4,200 dollars, some were in the $5 or $600 range,” Hinsdale said.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has released images of the suspects and has offered a $5,000 reward for information on who was responsible for the robbery. The National Shooting Sports Foundation has agreed to match the reward offered by the bureau for a total of $10,000 for anyone who can identify the thieves.
.@ATFAtlanta and @NSSF need your help locating suspects who burglarized Chuck’s Firearms and stole 42 firearms. Contact 1-888-ATF-TIPS with info. Did you know you can report anonymously? pic.twitter.com/135wDcXLlP
— ATF Atlanta (@ATFAtlanta) June 2, 2020
“The biggest disappointment is that the guns are on the street. Hopefully, no one will get hurt,” said Hinsdale.
Protesters in Atlanta and many other cities gathered to demand a change to policing policy following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after being arrested by a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Some of the protests turned into riots as cities face looting, arson, and vandalism.
