TAMPA — Thieves broke through the concrete wall of a gun shop early Thursday and stole 42 handguns, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
Now investigators are scrambling to find $20,700 worth of semiautomatic pistols.
"It makes you wonder what building is safe," Shooting Sports owner Fred Flesche said.
The heist took place around 1:35 a.m., deputies said, when at least four people tore through the side wall of Shooting Sports at 7811 N Dale Mabry Highway.
Deputies believe they used sledgehammers to punch their way into the store, but aren't sure how long it took them. As cars and trucks drove along the busy street in front of Shooting Sports, the thieves — concealed by darkness and shrubbery — went undetected as they hammered away.
"They just took an old-school sledgehammer and busted through the wall," Hillsborough sheriff's Maj. Chad Chronister said. "It still baffles me no one heard anything."
Once inside the shop, they shattered two glass cases and packed the guns into two black bags.
It was a fast operation. Chronister said that within one minute, the thieves entered the shop, broke the display cases, stole the guns and escaped through the gaping hole in the wall.
This particular break-in has authorities on high alert, he said. Deputies worked with the gun shop's staff to catalog the stolen guns and track their serial numbers.
"Somebody knows someone who knows something," Chronister said. "We've got to get these firearms off the street."
Deputies said they believe the thieves used blunt tools, like sledgehammers, to break through the wall due to the lack of concrete residue left behind. After the break-in, chunks and slabs of the wall littered the ground beneath the 5-foot wide opening.
Surveillance footage from inside Shooting Sports and nearby businesses showed the four thieves wearing dark clothing and hats. It was unclear to investigators how they left the crime scene, or if more people were involved.
After the glass was swept up from the floor and the hole in the wall was closed, it appeared to be business as usual inside the shop Thursday afternoon.
But Flesche said the break-in floored him.
He listed all of the safety measures that, until now, had ensured the security of his business: locked doors, cameras, locked display cases, an alarm system guarding the doors and burglar bars bolted to the window frames outside.
As the thieves swept through the business, store staff said they activated motion detectors, which alerted deputies and the store owner. The thieves were gone by the time deputies arrived.
Flesche was left wondering how do you prevent someone from smashing through a wall?
Shop customers came and went, chatting with the shop owner on the way out the door. Flesche said he was at a loss about who could be responsible, though he believes the thieves were probably familiar with the layout of the store.
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Explore all your optionsBecause so many firearms were stolen, Chronister said the Sheriff's Office isn't treating this like a typical "9-to-5" burglary case.
"This is very significant because whenever you have 42 firearms out in the street, you don't know whose hands they're going to fall in," he said. "Whether it be a child's hands or a criminal's, this is very important case for us."
Contact Michael Majchrowicz at (813) 226-3374 or mmajchrowicz@tampabay.com. Follow @mjmajchrowicz.