Pittsburgh-area gun store robbed after suspects smash into building with vehicle
NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. (KDKA) — A Westmoreland County gun store was robbed on Monday morning.
According to the owner of RC Firearms in New Kensington, someone drove a truck right into their store. For officers, tracking down the guns is not an easy task.
It was around 2 a.m. on Monday when store owner Cole Berg got the call his business was robbed.
"Disbelief. It was very shocking," Berg said.
He got there to see a surveillance video that showed a truck plowing into the building and people taking off with guns. No word on how many guns or what makes were taken.
"One gun in the wrong hands is enough," Berg said.
Jackson Township Police Chief Terry Seilhamer isn't in charge of this case but has investigated similar situations. The fear is the guns get in the wrong hands.
Last month, a Wexford store was targeted a couple of times with people taking off with guns. Chief Seilhamer said handguns are usually the target of robbers and they end up in the drug trade.
"When you have drugs and money, it's a really volatile mixture," Chief Seilhamer said over Zoom.
Once the guns are stolen, they can end up anywhere. Seilhamer said many times they are taken out of state to cities across the country.
"A lot of time, it's out-of-state cities because a lot of these states have stricter gun laws than Pennsylvania," Seilhamer told KDKA-TV.
They are hard to trace, even with the information given to police from the store. That information is put into a database for other agencies to be on the lookout.
"These guns are never legally transferred once they are stolen," Seilhamer said.
Unless the gun is found or used in another crime, they aren't usually traced. Berg says he plans to rebuild and put up barriers to prevent another situation like this from happening.
"If it happens once it's alarming. It shouldn't happen at all," Berg said.
KDKA-TV did reach out to New Kensington police for an update on this case but has not heard back. Anyone with information is asked to give the department a call.
