Public Relations Manager
Police are investigating the theft of weapons from a San Mateo County Sheriff sergeant’s car in the Tenderloin in San Francisco on the evening of Friday, Nov. 3rd.
In the burglary, the thief stole a shotgun, rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition, a bulletproof vest, and an FBI jacket from the sergeant’s unmarked car. The sergeant reportedly locked the vehicle and later returned to his car to find a window smashed, and his weapons and vest were missing. The FBI made a statement saying that the sergeant serves on their Joint Terrorism Task Force, but the weapons and ammo were not FBI issued.
Unfortunately, this is only one the six thefts of law enforcement vehicles in the Bay Area since 2015. Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an illegal immigrant, used one of the guns he stole from a Bureau of Land Management ranger’s car in San Francisco to murder local San Francisco resident Kate Steinle. Lopez-Sanchez killed local Steinle in 2016 as she walked with her father on San Francisco’s Pier 14.
Between January 2010 and June 2016, burglars have reportedly stolen at least 86 weapons from officer’s vehicles.
In 2016, California passed a state law that requires all citizens and law enforcement officers to lock and secure all handguns inside a vehicle. This law could have helped prevent the robbery, but long guns and rifles like the ones involved in this incident are exempt from the state requirement.
Local authorities are not commenting on the recent event, but they are asking people to report any information they may have on the issue.
(Sources: ABC 7 News and SF Gate)
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