More guns stolen from unlocked vehicles, and CMPD urges owners to store them properly
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police say they know where many of the guns used in shootings are coming from, and they’re asking the public to help prevent them from getting into the hands of criminals.
This year, 239 guns have been stolen from vehicles, an increase of 12% from last year, according to CMPD. About 66% of gun thefts occurred when the vehicle was unlocked, police said.
Overall crime in the city has remained relatively flat through the first three months of 2022, but thefts from vehicles have increased 2%, police say.
In December, a 14-year-old boy used a stolen gun to shoot and injure Officer Elliot Whitley, police Capt. Bret Balamucki said during CMPD’s biweekly news conference Wednesday. The teen stole the gun from a vehicle he had tried to break into, he said.
“When the subject in the apartments went to bed that night, he didn’t think about his handgun being in the car, and then it being stolen by a juvenile, and then being used against a police officer later that morning,” Balamucki said.
Shootings involving juveniles are becoming increasingly common in Charlotte. At least 25 guns have been found on Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools campuses this academic year. And so far this year, three teens have been killed due to gun violence, including a 14-year-old boy.
Guns used in shootings are coming from these thefts from vehicles, police Lt. Stephen Fischbach said.
“We’re telling you where they are getting these guns,” he said. “They’re getting these guns out of your cars, and then they’re committing violent crimes with these guns.”
Police are asking the public to secure their firearms, and keep their vehicles locked.
How to safely store guns
Project ChildSafe has multiple guidelines for how to safely store guns:
▪ Store a gun unloaded, and double-check that it is unloaded when you take it out of storage
▪ Store guns in locked safes, cabinets, vaults or cases, and put them in locations that are “inaccessible to children”
▪ Use gun locking devices to “render firearms inoperable”
▪ Store the parts of disassembled guns in different locations
▪ Store ammunition in a separate location from firearms
Staff writer Mary Ramsey contributed to this story.
