Source: WFTV (Florida)
June 12, 2007 Author: WFTV (Unattributed)
SOUTH DAYTONA, Fla. -- He has the weapons to protect himself, but a Volusia County gun store owner said crime has gotten so bad, he's closing up shop.
When thieves stole 17 guns from Glenn Mortellito's store, he said he'd had enough. What's even more frustrating is that his gun shop is right across the street from the police department. It's possible, when cops first arrived, the thieves were still inside.
The thieves knew what they were after, cops said, because the only guns they took were the ones that were in the cases, semiautomatic handguns, ignoring other more valuable guns all over the shop.
"Any of that stuff they didn't take. They were just semi-automatic specific," said Mortellito.
The alarm in Mortellito's small shop went off just before 1:30 Sunday afternoon. The officer who arrived saw a hole in the ceiling, but thought nothing of it. Police now, though, say it's possible the thieves were in the store at that moment.
"We wouldn't be able to tell who might have been hiding in the attic, because we would have no way of gaining access at that time," said Lt. Ron Wright, South Daytona Police Department.
Police left and, it wasn't until the owner arrived an hour later, he found his back door broken open and everyone realized it wasn't a false alarm.
The burglars had pried open a plywood-covered window at the empty business next door, leaving blood on the blinds. They climbed up into the ceiling on one side of the building and then dropped through an impossibly small vent on the other side.
Now, Mortellito has decided to pack it in, going out of business after 18 years at the location.
"I can't stock weapons and feel like, with alarm systems and police and everything, they still get 'em. I can't do this business anymore," he said.
One direction cops may look to find the guns is a gun show that's in the area this weekend. They said, sometimes, that's where guns from similar burglaries end up.
