Gun Store Owner Winds Up With 23 Stitches After Confronting Burglars
BRIGHTON, Colo. (CBS4) - For the second time this year, thieves have hit a gun store in Brighton. This time, the business owner was there and made a move to stop the suspects.
It happened in less than 30 seconds.
"I heard a crash, which was a Jeep coming through my wall," Jacob McIntosh, owner of South Platte Tactical, said. "At least three people entered the building, grabbed some guns and left, all inside 28 seconds."
Around 5:30 a.m. Sunday, a surveillance camera captured thieves stealing guns from the gun store. McIntosh happened to be sleeping in the back room.
"I woke up, looked for a gun and couldn't find one, so I grabbed a piece of pipe and went out the back door," McIntosh said, "and caught one of them mid-street."
McIntosh said he confronted one of the thieves, only to be assaulted by another.
"One of them jumped out the Jeep, and with a pistol that he just stole from me pistol-whipped the back of my head until I got off of him," he said.
The thieves got away with six guns, and McIntosh has 23 stitches in the back of his head.
Once again, he's dealing with a break-in at his small business, following the theft of dozens of guns back in January.
"That's when I beefed up security and got a guard dog and started sleeping here occasionally," McIntosh said, pointing to the barred windows at the front of his store. "There's only so much you can do because sure as [expletive], they'll drive a Jeep through your building."
McIntosh said gun store break-ins are just a sad reality these days and unfortunately common in Colorado.
That said, he is rethinking security options for his store, but doesn't believe putting away the weapons he sells will make a difference.
"That's dumb," he said. "You drive a truck through the wall, you hook a chain on the safe, and you take the whole safe with you. Outside of building a bunker with two-foot-thick concrete walls 20 feet under your store, then ignoring the two hours it takes to put your guns away and get them back out every morning, there's no feasible way to run a small business and create some sort of imaginary sense of security. That still won't fix anything."
A witness told Brighton police officers the suspects left southbound on 4th Avenue in the red Jeep believed to have crashed into the gun store. That Jeep was recovered just a few blocks away a short time later, but the suspects left in a different, unidentified vehicle.
Investigators do not believe the two thefts of South Platte Tactical are related, but they are asking for help in the case.
Anyone with information should call ATF's Tip Line at 1-800-ATF-GUNS (283-4867) or Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.
Callers to the ATF and Crime Stoppers tip lines can remain anonymous. People can also submit a tip through ATF's new "reportit" app.
RELATED: Selfies Help Investigators Track Down Suspected Gun Thief
Kelly Werthmann joined the CBS4 team as the morning reporter in 2012. After serving as weekend morning anchor, Kelly is now Covering Colorado First for CBS4 News at 10. Connect with Kelly on Facebook or follow her on Twitter @KellyCBS4.
