Burglars ram car into Lacey area gun shop to steal firearms

Thieves rammed a stolen Honda sedan into the side of Martin Way gun shop early Friday morning and made off with merchandise, the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Thurston County deputies are investigating the burglary that was reported at 2:43 a.m. Friday at I-5 Guns & Ammo at 7914 Martin Way E.

“They broke through the wall, ran inside, grabbed the guns, jumped into a second vehicle and took off — all in less than a minute,” said Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Sgt. Carla Carter.

The thieves wore masks and gloves, and took several long guns and guns that were in cases, she said. Carter estimated the stolen merchandise to be valued in the “tens of thousands of dollars.”

A tripped security alarm initiated a call to 911, but the burglars were gone by the time deputies arrived, Carter said.

“There’s been similar burglaries throughout the state with the same m.o. (modus operandi) so we’re going to work with other detectives to try and put out as much information as we can,” Carter said.

She said anyone with information related to the heist should report it to Crime Stoppers of South Sound at 800-222-8477 (TIPS). Crime Stoppers will pay a reward of as much as $1,000 for tips that lead to an arrest in the case.

On Friday morning, workers at the store said they weren’t making statements. The gun shop posted on its Facebook page that it was closed for the day.

“We are currently conducting an inventory and waiting on the investigators to complete their work,” the post stated. “Although no loss of a firearm is acceptable, preliminary checks indicate that the loss was limited.”

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 10:42 AM with the headline "Burglars ram car into Lacey area gun shop to steal firearms."