17 powerful guns valued at more than $20,000 are on the streets of Memphis, after thieves ransacked a law enforcement officer’s east Memphis home.
Police say the burglary happened between 11:50 a.m. and 2:50 p.m. Wednesday at a home in the 4400 block of Dunn Ave.
Local 24 crime tracked about three miles around Dunn Avenue and found more than a dozen burglaries have been reported in the last 90 days. Some people who live in that neighborhood are fearful they could be next.
“It’s just pathetic. Mary Robertson lives in the east Memphis neighborhood where thieves broke into a law enforcement officer’s home Wednesday and stole 17 guns.
“You work hard for what you get and for someone just to violate you and come into your house and take what they want, it’s scary,” says Robertson.
Memphis police say the unknown suspects broke into the home on Dunn in the middle of the afternoon and stole ten handguns valued at $7900, five assault rifles valued at nearly $15,000, and two shot guns valued at $1,000.
The guns came from four safes; it’s not clear if they were unlocked. Around the corner from the home, we found a cracked safe in a ditch. It’s not clear if that safe is related to this burglary.
“Now I’m scared every time I go out what I’m going to find when I come back, you know,” says another neighbor who did not want to be identified.
She says her home was burglarized six months ago. “I had to replace three doors and two windows, they kept kicking and kicking and kicking. It’s just scary, I’m just glad I wasn’t here.”
She said crime became a big problem in this neighborhood within the past five years. “And I’m not the only one, I was telling some people in my congregation, almost everybody I knew had been burglarized,” she says. “I talked to a man over there and he said they had been burglarized a number of times and it was so bad the house is totally unlivable now”
“It’s too many break-ins been over here and I didn’t even know so I found out about her and those people down there, I mean that’s too close to home,” says Robertson. “You don’t know what people going to do. You can just walk down the street and someone shoot you for no reason, so you know, yeah I’m worried.”
Local 24 caught up with the homeowner whose weapons were stolen, who said, “This is an ongoing investigation and there will be no comment from anybody.”
Police say the thieves also stole a few wedding rings valued at more than $3,000 dollars.
Police have not released a description of the suspects. Anyone who may know something about this crime should call Crime Stoppers at (901) 528-CASH.
