SOUTH KITSAP, Wash. — The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday it is working to track down 98 stolen guns and the thieves who took them.
Sheriff Gary Simpson is urging the community to take a close look at the surveillance images his office released of the break-in Monday morning at Boerner Firearms in Gorst.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the National Shooting Sports Foundation and Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound are working together to offer a reward up to $11,000 for information leading to an arrest.
“You've got some brazen criminals that are coming up, breaking doors, tearing down bars and entering a fully stocked gun store,” Simpson said.
“That's very concerning. We’ve got numerous guns out on the street. We can assume that these people are not going to be selling them legally, and that’s scary.”
It is not the first time thieves have targeted the store. In April of 2014, deputies say two men stole 14 handguns from Boerner Firearms.
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They say one man went underneath the store and cut through the floor while the other drove the getaway car. They were arrested within the month.
But this burglary is on another level.
“How rare is a burglary on this scale?” KIRO 7 reporter Linzi Sheldon asked.
"It's very rare," the sheriff said. "We like to say that this is a peaceful community and this is something that happens across the water or somewhere else, bigger
city. But Kitsap County is growing."
Jake Rollness and his wife, Krysta Rollness, showed KIRO 7 the holster he bought at Boerner a little while ago.
KIRO 7 was the first to tell them both what had happened.
“I wouldn’t really expect that to happen,” Jake Rollness said. “Especially at a gun store.”
The sheriff wants people to call Detective Michael Grant at 360-337-5611 or Detective Eric Adams at 360-337-4998 with any tips. They can also call the ATF tip line, 1-888-ATF-TIPS.
“If people see something that sparks an idea of who this might be or something that would give us a lead, a direction to head for, we want to receive that information,” Simpson said. “I’m afraid someone's going to get killed with the guns that have been stolen.”
Simpson said it’s unclear at this point whether the break-in is connected to another gun store burglary that occurred in Sequim on April 13.
In their original news release, Deputies provided images and the following details about the three people believed to be involved:
Person 1: A large-statured individual wearing a sweatshirt with a 'CDXX' logo on the front with writing on the sleeves, gray-colored sweatpants and black gloves.
Person 2: An individual wearing a sweatshirt with multi-colored "North Face" or "The North West" on the front, black pants with white draw-strings and white stripes down the sides and white, dark-colored Air Jordan Retro 12 leather sneaker footwear.
Person 3: An individual wearing a sweatshirt with a blue bandana over his face, light-colored gloves and mid-high, light-colored basketball shoes with white soles.
Deputies said the vehicle used in the burglary appears to be a light-colored extended-cab pick-up truck – possibly a Chevrolet Silverado.
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