Thieves steal firearms from two gun stores after ramming a car through both businesses

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - According to Colorado Springs Police, several suspects used a stolen car to gain access to a pair of gun stores in Colorado Springs around 4 a.m. the morning of July 31, 2024.

CSPD says the suspected thieves accessed the two businesses, located in the blocks of 3500 North Carefree Circle and 3900 Palmer Park Boulevard respectively, by driving a stolen car into the business entrance.

Police say the suspects were able to steal multiple handguns. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has been notified. Crystal McCoy with the ATF's Denver Field Division tells us "several" special agents responded to the scene. The investigation into the incidents is being led by CSPD.

Spruce Defense and SDS Guns were the two business victims of the double burglary.

The owners of Spruce Defense says that the same kind of burglary happened to them back in March, when someone drove a car through the front of their business before it even opened. They say it delayed their opening for months and cost them around $20,000.

This time, it will cost them between $20,000 and $30,000 to finish the repairs.

"Just please stop," Connie Rogers said of the thieves. "Let us let us have our business and,  you know, leave us alone."

In the repairs, they added new security features like reinforced glass, a closing gate across the front windows and cement poles to keep the thieves from doing it again. However, the thieves approached their business from an angle and rammed the car multiple times into the front of their store before getting in.

"This can make a family go bankrupt because you only have so much money and so many funds to keep replacing and redoing," Rogers said.

Colorado Springs police say this pattern of robbery is occurring more and more frequently, and typically is done by juveniles.

"It's very hard for us to take them into custody and to hold them. So if we do catch them, it is what we call a serve and release type of sentence," Caitlin Ford, a Colorado Springs Public Information Officer said.

Ford says it is difficult to hold the teens who do this accountable, meaning they can do it repeatedly.

However, stealing a firearm carries a new level of concern for Colorado Springs Police, who say they are trying to track down the stolen firearms.

"Criminals are not stealing firearms just to carry them around. They're stealing them for a purpose. Often times we're seeing them used in things like aggravated assault, which could be like drive-by shootings or other types of assaults, armed robberies, even up to homicides," Ford said.

SDS Guns did not respond to our request for comment.