Thursday morning burglary causes emotional loss for business owner.
A half-dozen handguns were stolen early Thursday morning from the Sportsman on Highway 101. The entire incident was probably over in less than five minutes. The thief gained entry to the store using brute force according to Florence Police Commander John Pitcher.
John Pitcher – “They threw a cinder block through a window.”
Pitcher said there may have been a very brief delay in calling police.
John Pitcher – “The alarm had gone off, but the alarm company contacts the owner directly and the owner can choose to contact us or go down directly and check, and that’s what happened in this case.”
Sportsman owner Bill Pinkney said he was there within five minutes and the thief was long gone. Even if authorities had been directly notified, it’s not likely they would have been able to make a difference. Pitcher, the police commander, said he’s confident they’ll make headway.
John Pitcher – “I hope so. We’re investigating. We followed up on a couple of leads so far and we’ll see where those take us. I’m hoping we’re able to solve this and get these guns back.”
Pinkney said he felt violated and more importantly than the loss of the guns, he felt the burglar had made off with “a part of my soul”.