MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Ten guns are on the streets tonight after a burglary in Highland Heights Thursday.
Police received a call around 1 p.m. saying crooks got away with 10 firearms, including one AK-47, and ammunition.
“Went to work, came home and we were broken into,” said Rick Kolansinki. “They pried the window open, hopped in there and took what they could.”
Kolansinki said the thieves made off with thousands of dollars worth of guns.
“Ten guns and a bunch of ammunition, which they found some of it over the fence. They dropped it going over the fence,” he said.
Police collected evidence from his home in the 3800 block of Guernsey Avenue for hours trying to figure out who did it and where they went.
A scary thought for neighbors.
“You always have to worry when guns are gone. They are going to wind up in the wrong hands,” said Tonya Tielens, who lives nearby.
Thieves across the Mid-South are stealing guns and lots of them.
At least 20 were reported stolen from cars and homes in DeSoto County, Memphis and Germantown since last Tuesday.
DeSoto County posted pictures of the weapons on Facebook hoping to get some leads while Memphis Police sent out this surveillance video of crooks taking four pistols, a rifle, ammo and a hunting knife Monday in downtown near Gus’s Chicken and in the Bass Pro parking lot.
Memphis Police said it’s hard to track a stolen gun, because it can change hands so many times, they don’t even know where it originated form.
Kolansinki said he’s had guns stolen before in Bartlett, but they never turned up and the thieves are still out there.
“I’ll put it this way: I’ll probably never see it again,” he said.
WREG asked Memphis Police how many guns were reported stolen so far this year, but have yet to hear back.
Tennessee ATF agents say they recovered 7,000 guns in 2013, and almost 2,000 were from Memphis.
