Law enforcement officials recently released surveillance footage showing a suspect stealing seven tactical rifles from a North Houston pawn shop.
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The video from the EZ Pawn at 1991 FM 1960 shows a large man breaking into the store at around 7 a.m., approximately the same time parents were dropping off their children at a nearby elementary school.
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“It happened just down the street from a school,” Senior Special Agent Nicole Strong of the ATF Houston Field Office told a local TV station. “This happened shortly after 7 a.m. when parents were literally dropping off their kids to school and that brings us a lot of concern.”
The video shows a heavy-set man wearing a black jacket, hooded sweatshirt, dark pants, white tennis shoes and a multi-colored hat breaking into the store and stealing the weapons. The video also shows a vehicle parked outside the shop: a black Dodge Ram pickup truck with tinted windows, chrome door handles and stock 20” alloy wheels.
Several agencies are offering a combined reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and capture of the thief or thieves involved in the robbery. The reward includes $2,500 from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, $2,500 from the National Shooting Sports Foundation and $5,000 from CrimeStoppers.
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Strong also voiced concerns about what could happen with those weapons once they get out onto the streets: “They can go across the border, they can also be traded for other property or drugs, but regardless of where they go, nothing good is going to come from it.”