Police investigate spike in guns stolen out of cars

ATLANTA — Car break-ins are on the rise across the city and witnesses to some of those crimes believe the thieves are going after guns.           
 
On victim told Channel 2's Carl Willis he just walked in a business to conduct some business and within minutes a surveillance camera caught a thief digging through his car and coming out with a stolen gun.
 
"He stuck it in and just leaned on it as hard as he could," theft victim Adam Cooler told Willis.
 
Video shows the thief dive into cooler's SUV after smashing one of the windows.
 
Cooler is one more victim in a spike in vehicle break-ins across Atlanta.
 
"I went, 'I need to check my gun,' and that was the first thing I looked (for) and I went, 'It's gone.' I know what happened," Cooler said.
 
The thief snatched his handgun out of his center console, grabbed a gym bag and was gone.
 
More alarming, witnesses say it appears that thieves are specifically going after firearms.
 
 "Like somebody probably knew that this car might have a gun, because they didn't break any other car," said business owner Dan Patel.
 
"I was just really afraid that they were going to do something with it. Obviously, when someone steals a gun, they're not going to a gun range with it," Cooler said.
 
Willis pulled crime reports from Atlanta's Zone 2, and in a three-week stretch at least 10 guns were stolen out of cars on the northwest side.
 
That includes one two doors down from Billy Justi's home.
 
"I'm very concerned with what's going with the break in and the guns that may be in this area."
said Justi.
 
"The officer did tell me he said yeah, we're seeing a lot of this," Cooler said.
 
Numbers from the Atlanta Police Department show vehicle larcenies are up 7 percent citywide compared with this time last year;
 
They are up 9 percent in Zone 2 and as much as 37 percent in Zone 1.
 
Jerry Henry with Georgiacarry.org says it's vital that gun owners get proactive about securing their weapons.
 
"They can get some kind of safe for their car or some kind of concealment box that it'd be attached to your car and it's locked," Henry said.
 
"They were after my gun, I know that," Cooler said.