Roseville Gun Store Smash and Grab Theives
courtesy detroitnews.com and YouTube

One of the preferred methods for relieving gun stores of their inventory these days is to crash a truck through the front window or door, then make off with as much ballistic booty as you can in about two minutes. Some Detroit area robbers attempted exactly that early this morning, backing a pickup truck into Motor City Pawn which, we’re told, does a big business in gun sales. However . . .

https://youtu.be/uKsPgf71ajQ

A Roseville pawn shop was the spot of an attempted smash-and-grab burglary early Thursday morning, but the theft was stopped by an armed store employee who shot back and scared the suspects off, police said.

It was about 5:20 a.m. when a large vehicle, believed to be a pickup truck, drove into the glass windows at the front of Motor City Pawn, which is on the 26500 block of Gratiot.

Hmmm. Why would a gun store employee be at work at 5:18am? It’s almost as if he was expecting a robbery attempt.

Police believe that two or three men were in the truck; one of them entered the store through the hole the truck created, but soon encountered an employee, who was armed and fired at two shots at the intruder.

The suspect(s) fled, and the truck drove off north on Gratiot. Nothing was ultimately taken from the building.

All’s well that ends well. But remember . . .

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37 COMMENTS

  1. Maybe the employee is paid to sleep there (there was a noticeable delay before the shooting started). But as a gun store employee, I’d think he’d be a better shot. Maybe the boss should pay for some training if he wants cheap security.

    • My son worked as a night stocker at a big box grocery store that was open 24 hrs. A whole crew of young guys worked with him. He was about 22 at the time. The store was closed for New Years Eve 1999. You know, Y2K. He and the crew were told to come to work, anyway. Their boss was there and after he secured the building he took the fellows into the back and proceeded to hand out shotguns. You know, Y2K.

      My son proceeded to hand his back and came home. He’s a potg like me. But no way was he putting his ass and future on the line for somebody else’s profits. Especially not since his boss had never let any of them in on what was going down. This was not a mom and pop. It was a big chain with lots of resources.

      Spending nights with a gun looking after another’s property is ok if you’re covered by their lawyers and insurance. If the only skin you got in the game is a pay day, it ain’t worth it.

  2. No need to kill them if they just leave. I’d say he showed restraint.
    Killing them over property isnt as foolproof as saving a life.

    Besides, they are probably customers

  5. One of the preferred methods for relieving gun stores of their inventory these days is to crash a truck through the front window or door, …

    Install a line of bollards in front of the store and it would likely discourage even the attempt. Beats the hell out of replacing your whole store front every time somebody tries it. They even make nice decorative ones now.

    • Tow chains have been used to remove locked barriers as well. Bollards are rendered useless at that point.

    • I’ve seen some SERIOUS security at a few LGS…South County Guns in Scheraville Indiana is a freakin’ fortress. So is the infamous Chuck’s Gun’s in Riverdale,IL. Neither have ever been robbed as far as I know. Unlike a bunch of other LGS. Blythe’s in Griffith AND Valparaiso robbed. Glenwood guns robbed. Deb’s Gun shop in Hammond,IN robbed. And others. No crashing through the front,side or rear. Harden up the roof. Whatever…

    • {Decorative barriers}

      “They even make nice decorative ones now.”

      Oh, yeah. The larger rectangular ‘planters’ can mass over several tons, easy.

      The main point of bollards are deterrence. If they don’t attempt in the first place, they did their job.

      Yes, they could get a tow truck with chains and yank ’em out, but with the vast majority of pawn shop smash-in robberies, the vehicle they use is whatever they can steal for the job…

      • Most tarantulas aren’t much of a deterrent.
        One pawnsman and herpetology enthusiast I once knew, however
        Let some of his rattlesnakes run, er- slither free on some nights,
        and did not make a secret of it.

        Consequently, his shop was never broken into, and you would never visit his shop to soon after opening,
        to give him time to collect his security snakes.

        If he was drinking his morning coffee, he had them in their tanks.

        • Many years ago, I went to an auto junk yard at Beeville Texas looking for a transmission. As I was talking to the older gentleman that owned the business, I noticed that a huge lion ( yes, a freaking full grown lion ) came up near us and was restrained by a chain. I asked the business owner if he ever had and thefts and he smiled and said never a one. Have heard of a junk yard dog but that was my first junk yard lion.

  6. Bollards are a good start depending on property boundaries.

    Never underestimate what people will steal though. I have seen where the nice looking bollards were stolen.

  7. Years ago I used to live in a rough area of West Palm Beach Florida that averaged two murders a week. I had the welcome mat at my front door stolen- twice.

    • Indeed, people will steel anything just because they can. Went out to lunch with a coworker once, it was raining, so he turned on his wipers. Nothing but the arms scratching against the windshield. Someone stole his wiper blades.

  9. Around 30 years ago, a young man attempted to do the same thing at DB Gun Store in Providence RI. Owner Donn DiBiasio was inside and promptly put an end to the attempted theft with 3 shots from a .45. Donn was accused of “lying in wait” and promptly arrested. A grand jury chose not to indict him. Donn served on the NRA board of directors for many years and passed away several years ago. Donn was a patriot.

  10. They chose poorly because once they gained entry all the shop had was AR’s and Glocks

  11. Early eighties. Guy named Ralph Henschen, owner of a shop called Sun Belt Arms near Atlanta. Very similar situation, but he went 3 for 4 with an M16. Good times.

  12. Ha! I see someone else also noticed the perps were “mindful” enough to put on the emergency flashers after smashing through the storefront. Rather odd when you think about it.

    • Kind of like swabbing the con’s arm with alcohol before hooking up the IV for a lethal injection. What is the point?

      • Swabbing for any injection is a mandated medical standard.
        Plus, there can always be a last second stay of execution.

  13. “Hmmm. Why would a gun store employee be at work at 5:18am? It’s almost as if he was expecting a robbery attempt.”
    or you could use your brain and think for 2 seconds and come up with many possibilities as in maybe its the store owner and he LIVES in the back. or maybe they open at 6 and he was getting everything ready.
    no that can’t be it because your amazing paranoid intuition says otherwise.

  15. The Giffords tweet cites an NPR piece. That piece clearly equates a defensive gun use to someone bein shot or killed.
    A couple of years ago we had several gun incidents. The first was a woman that had two strangers trying to get into her house. She armed herself, then knocked on a window with it. The two then ran. Another found two men trying to steal his truck. He came out with a shotgun and they ran off. In the third, a man was sleeping on his sofa, then woke to find a stranger in his house. When they struggle, he shot and killed the stranger.
    Gifford and NPR would only report one DGU. Most of use would count three.

  18. Old term is Night watchman, my Grand dad used to do this for people toted a Snub nose Colt detective special and a flashlight.

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