ROCKDALE, Texas (KRHD) — Eight guns were stolen from a local gun shop, Majik Firearms, in Rockdale on May 9. Now, the burglary is raising safety concerns among police and impacting the shop's business.
- Someone stole about eight handguns from local gun store Majik Firearms in Rockdale.
- Owner Tony Ellis says he's paid about $8,000 dollars to repair damage to the store window, door, glass case and to replace the stolen handguns.
- The Rockdale Police Department says other law enforcement agencies have reported similar burglaries and encourages anyone with additional information to contact the department.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
About 21 robberies have happened since last May in
Rockdale.
But the one police are most worried about happened May 9.
"It's always a concern when you have,, firearms that are unaccounted for," Chief Jerry Meadors said.
Stealing eight guns from local gunshop, Majik Firearms.
"Fellow comes down the hill in the back, walks around the building, stands around out front for a few minutes. Then, he kicks the door in, which is just plate glass at the time... He went over the barricade. He was able to bend it down and climb over it. He went straight to the glock case."
A hit to the gut for Owner Tony Ellis —
"I was a little upset the day of. I'm former military and law enforcement, so I've seen the other side of the fence," he said.
And to his business.
"The total cost out of pocket is just over eight grand, and that comes right out of my pocket," Ellis said.
And he's only been open for less than two weeks.
"Yes, it's actually happened during our grand reopening customer appreciation kind of thing," he said.
Since the break-in, he's had to extend sales an additional week and close the shop for investigation.
It's even put plans like opening a gun range on the back burner.
"To raise an additional eight grand will probably take me several months outside of normal bills and payroll," Ellis said.
Chief Jerry Meadors tells me he suspects the burglary is part of a larger trend.
"We also got some reports from surrounding counties, some agencies of surrounding counties that had similar burglaries," Meadors said.
Tony tells me the community has stepped up to support him.
But now, he's concentrating adding new security to prevent the another break-in and finding who did it.
"Right now, like i said, we replaced the windows. We gotta get new stickers and everything, inventory. The only real problem that's still unresolved is why the alarm didn't go off," Ellis said.
