Gun shop loses $70K in goods after smash-and-grab

COWETA COUNTY, Ga. — The owner of a Newnan gun store is trying to regroup after three thieves took off with $70,000 worth of high-powered rifles.

Surveillance video shows the suspects backing a car into AR Bunker at Highway 34 just before 5 a.m. Sunday. It took thieves less than a minute to jump out and grab the semi-automatics in the display case.

Store owner Rusty Morris told Channel 2’s Jade Hernandez the thieves grabbed rifles ranging from under $1,000 to semi-automatic rifles, each about $4,000.

“There are a lot of states that ban these kinds of weapons lately, and I would imagine that these types of weapons are worth a lot of money up north somewhere,” Morris said.

Investigators are still taking an inventory, but right now estimate a gun loss of $70,000, not to mention the structural damage left behind.

Morris said Newnan police arrived less than 20 seconds after the burglary and Coweta sheriff’s investigators arrived shortly after. Morris said sheriff’s investigators have a theory on how thieves got away with the guns.

“They think someone was waiting for them on the interstate and they carried the guns through the woods, up the interstate and left the car, which was stolen from Union City,” Morris said.

Hernandez has been reaching out to investigators to get more information.

Morris, meanwhile, said he plans to reopen as soon as he can. He’s been in business for a long time and expects repairs to be finished by the end of the day.

Get updates on this developing story on Channel 2 Action News at 6.

WSBTV