UNION TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Four juveniles were arrested Sunday morning after they crashed a vehicle into a gun store and stole multiple firearms, the Union Township Police Department said.
Police said they were called to Sportman's Warehouse, along Eastgate South Drive, just after 6 a.m. Sunday for a call about an alarm. Officers found that multiple people used a stolen vehicle to crash into the building's storefront. After they crashed the vehicle, they stole "numerous firearms," but police didn't specify how many.
An officer then saw a white Hyundai speeding out of the area before the vehicle's driver crashed on Eastgate Boulevard. Police said three occupants fled on foot before they were apprehended, while a fourth person was identified as playing a part in the theft and was apprehended.
Police said all four individuals arrested are juveniles from the Cincinnati area, and they are being held at the Clermont County Detention Center. They are facing multiple charges, including theft of firearms from a federally licensed firearms dealer, a first-degree felony.
Police said there have been similar thefts in other areas of the Tri-State, including Northern Kentucky, Miami Township and Newtown. A WCPO 9 crew saw Sunday morning that a vehicle had crashed into the front of the Range USA on Round Bottom Road in Newtown, but it was unclear if firearms had been stolen.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is offering a reward up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of six people involved in burglaries at two Florence gun shops. During both thefts, the suspects also drove a car into the storefronts before stealing weapons.
Police said the juveniles arrested after the Union Township theft are believed to be linked to all of the other incidents.
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