TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Pima County Sheriff’s Deputies say they have arrested some of the people involved in a gun store burglary where people smashed a vehicle into a gun store, got inside and took guns. Some of the people charged are as young as fourteen years old.
It was burglary by brute force. Thieves plowed a vehicle into SNG Tactical, scooped up the guns inside, and took off before law enforcement could get there.
But now Pima Sheriff’s Deputies have five suspects under arrests thanks to their parents.
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos says, “A lot of this information came from them— parents calling us and then not just one or two, several of them calling us, and some, some of them brought their kids to us saying, ‘Hey, I think my son's involved in this.’”
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos says the oldest suspect is 17. The youngest is 14. He says the parents knew how to see through their sons’ secrets.
“They looked at social media. They knew who their friends were. They were talking to them and, you know, getting involved is how they knew. They knew what was on their phones and so yeah, good for them.”
Tucson Police say they are still investigating another gun store burglary a few days before the hit on SNG Tactical. Burglars used the same technique at Elite Guns and Ammo: Plow in with a vehicle, grab guns, and go.
Law enforcement has seen plenty of cases where young people use far more firepower than good sense.
In the past few years a drive-by shooting at a house party near University of Arizona killed 20 year old Erin Jones. Teens aged 17 and 18 were charged in the case. Two have murder trials coming up. Two are already in prison after pleading guilty to lesser charges.
Tucson Police say in a shooting outside a Hookah lounge shooters fired more than 200 rounds, even though there was a police car —with its emergency lights on —working another call in sight nearby.
In March two groups of teens encountered each other in Park Place Mall. There was a shooting. One teen was wounded. Another was arrested.
Sheriff Nanos says in this case he hopes there will be consequences that put the teens arrested on a better path. But he worries that guns stolen in this burglary are still in circulation—and probably in very young hands.
