$10K reward offered after 17 guns stolen from Philadelphia store
MAYFAIR (WPVI) -- Federal agents are investigating a series of gun thefts from a store in the Mayfair section of Philadelphia and are offering a $10,000 reward.
The ATF is joining the National Shooting Sports Foundation in offering the $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects who stole 17 handguns.
They did it in three separate incidents over the last two weeks; the latest break-in happened Wednesday morning.
Surveillance video shows one of the suspects inside Lock's Philadelphia Gun Exchange throwing gun barrels at a glass case trying to get in to steal handguns.
Officials say he was wearing a sweatshirt similar to the one in this gallery.
"On the first incident, which was August 26th, there were five handguns that were stolen and again on September 14th, there were an additional 12 handguns that were stolen," Steve Bartholomew of the ATF said.
In the second incident on September 1st, where the suspect was throwing gun barrels, nothing was taken, likely because police were staking the place out across the street.
The owners of the shop allowed Action News inside Thursday, but didn't want to appear on camera.
They told us at least one suspect accessed the interior through the roof.
Despite the police response, the suspect got in and out in a matter of seconds.
The ATF doesn't think he acted alone.
"We believe there is more than one person that participated in this event. All three incidents are being treated as being done by the same individuals. There's a lot of similarities, but the investigation is ongoing," Bartholomew said.
The owners are having razor wire installed on the roof this coming weekend.
