GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — An unknown suspect broke into a Gwinnett County card shop early Wednesday morning, fired a gun into a display case, and walked out with about $10,000 in graded Pokémon cards, police say.
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Surveillance video from Wasteland Gaming shows the suspect twirling an umbrella outside the front door around 4:30 a.m. before hurling something through the glass. He walked past everything else in the store and went straight to one display case holding graded Pokémon cards.
“This is the third time we’ve been broken into in three years, but the first time that somebody opened fire,” said James Miller, one of the store’s owners.
Miller said the thief got away with cards worth roughly $10,000. He said Pokémon has become a target for criminals across the country because the cards are small, valuable, and easy to resell.
“You can drive across town and set up a sale with another store or even just a private collector pretty quickly,” Miller said.
The Satellite Boulevard shop near Duluth has weathered two earlier break-ins, but Miller said he is grateful no employees were inside when the suspect started shooting.
The loss hits more than just the owners.
“We have a profit share, so anything we lose comes out of employee paychecks in the form of bonuses. And a lot of our people really do need the money,” Miller said.
Miller and other shop owners have already shared photos of the stolen cards online. Many of the cards have serial numbers printed on the cases, which makes them easier to track if they show up for sale.
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Miller said the break-in has him rethinking what his store has become.
“We should probably treat it more like a jewelry store than a comic book shop,” Miller said.
Anyone with information is urged to call Gwinnett County police.
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