The 1-minute video shows four masked people walking up to the store and throw a brick through the store’s glass door.
Two of the people enter, one with a bag and the other with a milk crate, and a security alarm starts to sound as bright motion detector lights flash on.
They’re inside the store for less than 20 seconds before all five panic and flee the scene.
The incident remains under investigation, according to police.
INITIAL REPORT: June 6
Masked thieves were thwarted by tight security at two of three gun shops hit in southwest Ohio during a recent string of break-ins.
Burglars attempted a break-in at Wells Armory, 9272 Cincinnati Columbus Road in West Chester around 3:18 a.m. Monday. William Wells, the store’s owner, told the Journal-News that five masked thieves tried to leave with weapons from his store left empty-handed, driving off in an SUV and sedan.
“They didn’t get anything,” said Wells. “They just busted out our front window. Anything of real value we lock in safes at night, so they can’t get to it.”
The surveillance cameras from the shop captured the burglars using a rock to break the glass from the store’s front door and fleeing the scene when the store’s security lights flashed and alarm sounded about a minute after they entered the building, he said.
He said today’s break-in was the first ever for his West Chester storefront, which opened last July, and only the second in his 21 years in the weapon business, including 15 years operating a Colerain Twp. storefront and five years of operating one in Milford Twp.
“It’s part of the game,” Wells said. “You can’t keep them out. They can get it if they have enough time; it’s just you try to make sure they can’t get anything.”
In the morning hours of June 5, burglars broke in to the Dayton Armory, 3319 Seajay Drive in Dayton. Police were on the scene within 30 seconds after the store’s alarm was triggered, but the thieves had already fled. Several guns were stolen after entry was gained by breaking a window with a rock. Beavercreek police are not yet releasing the surveillance video of this break-in at the request of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Currently, Beavercreek police are looking at two juvenile suspects for this break-in.
Early Friday, June 3, burglars attempted to break into the Vandalia Range and Armory, 100 Corporate Center Dr., Vandalia, but bars blocked their path after they broke the front door. This is the third time the Vandalia Range and Armory has been hit since August 2015, but was the first time burglars left without guns.
The owners of Vandalia Range and Armory declined to comment.
About the Author
