After a Douglasville sporting goods store had more than three dozen firearms stolen during a unique break-in last week, police have raised the reward to $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
Since the robbery, management is looking for better reinforcements to prevent similar incidents.
The robbery at Gable Sporting Goods occurred early in the morning Nov. 12 when a crew drove a U-Haul through the wall and stole 37 weapons, mostly handguns.
According to manager Rome Smith, the business plans to install further protection in the form of bollards, or short posts, around the outside of the building to prevent anyone from driving another truck through the wall.
In the meantime, management is still reviewing video footage of the brazen break-in and working with police to find the suspects.
“I want the story out there because somebody is going to talk, and I want to catch them,” Smith told AJC.com on Friday.
Standing outside the massive hole in the side of his business, Smith said he overestimated the security a solid cement wall could provide. He said the hole was repaired by about 2 p.m. Thursday.
Smith said the thieves busted through the wall shortly after 1 a.m. It then took them 58 seconds to grab the guns, scramble back over the debris and drive away, he said.
The entire incident was captured on the store’s security cameras.
Douglasville police are investigating. According to the police department, the U-Haul was recovered later Thursday in Atlanta, but authorities are still looking for the second white box truck.
Smith said he believes it’s only a matter of time before one of the stolen guns winds up in a pawn shop.
“They will get these out on the street, and hopefully somebody will find them and give us a clue of who did this,” he said.
Douglasville police are offering a $5,000 reward in the case. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Williams at 678-293-1747 or williamss@douglasvillega.gov.
— Staff writer Chelsea Prince and photojournalist John Spink contributed to this article.
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