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Four juveniles in custody following attempted burglary of Pittsburgh area gun store

Four suspects in custody after attempted break-in at gun store
Four suspects in custody after attempted break-in at gun store 02:16

WEXFORD (KDKA) -Four juveniles are in custody as of this morning after an attempted burglary of a sporting and gun store. 

This comes as it's clean-up time for the owner of Big Buck Sport Shop.  

The first time they were broken into was through a window on Christmas Eve. The second time now, on this left-hand side with the bars.

People are helping clean up the broken glass and mess now, and the owner of Big Buck Sport Shop said they will be open for business as normal today.

The chief for the Northern Regional Police Department, John Sicilia said the alarm went off.

Officers arrived so quickly that they saw the suspects try to drive away in a stolen car.

"Just about every other neighboring police department in the area," said Chief Sicilia.

The chief says the suspects hit a police car, continued eastbound on Route 910, crashed into a wooded area, and ran away.

After that, the suspects stole another car from a residential area in Franklin Park; they crashed it too, and ran away again.

Hours of searching for the suspects included drones, a helicopter, and the SWAT team.

No guns were stolen this time.

But thieves took guns from the same store, earlier this week.

"Obviously very, very dangerous," Chief Sicilia said. "Those guns are unaccounted for now and there were several guns and unfortunately, they're probably getting into the hands of people that shouldn't have them."

It's not clear if the same people tried to burglarize the business today, but the hairdresser next door, Camille Nanni the owner of Camille's salon, sympathizes with his neighbor. 

"I thought not again," he said. "It's very unfortunate, but thank God nobody got hurt. I mean he's well prepared he has security he has bars on the windows and people want in, they're getting in."

Nanni explained the scene he saw when he arrived at his business this morning. 

"When I came to work to open up, I could not get into the parking lot - police everywhere," he said.

The chief is telling the community, "Be vigilant, lock your doors, and unfortunately the car that was stolen the keys were in the vehicle and unlocked."

County and state police covered multiple scenes in the hours-long search for the young men involved, and got help from "just about every other neighboring police department in the area," according to the chief. 

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