Law enforcement looking for suspects in gun thefts

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.- Firearm theft is becoming a growing issue for people in Southern Kentucky. It’s a problem that law enforcement needs the community’s help to tackle.

The thieves are often looking for easy targets, such as unlocked homes or cars. They are searching for anything valuable, which sometimes means the weapons end up in the wrong hands.

On Sunday, five incidents of gun theft were reported to police. During one of these incidents, suspects entered the home through an open garage before stealing the weapon.

“This has become a reoccurring issue in some of our neighborhoods out in the county. We have got some potential suspects on this, but we are looking and waiting for fingerprints and some other identifying information to come back,” said Warren County Sheriff, Brett Hightower.

According to the Warren County Sheriff’s Department, the suspects tied to all 11 theft complaints appear to be young men driving around in a Toyota Tacoma.

“They’re usually adult age, people who have different drug addictions. They found that it’s easier to go along and check vehicles and see if it’s unlocked. Not causing alarm to the community, or breaking a window and causing noise,” said Hightower.

Law enforcement is advising that people keep valuables, especially firearms locked away.

“Typically, people leave them in their vehicles because not a lot of people want to carry them in restaurants or businesses. Sometimes they’re forced to, like at the Post Office where they’re not allowed to bring them in. So, people just leave their vehicles unlocked, because areas like this, small communities people tend to trust more than they should,” said Casey Keating, owner at Anchor Arms, LLC in Glasgow.

The guns often go for a high price when sold illegally on the streets. Keaton said thieves are often looking for smaller guns that are easily concealed.

“It’s a lot of desperate people especially due to drugs. Guns are never worth as much as they are on the street. Criminals typically go to specific types of guns. A lot of those are revolvers, because when they use them in crimes there’s no brass left. So it’s hard to trace back to a specific shooting,” said Keating.

The Sheriff’s Office is asking anyone with information about the thefts to contact police.