Early one morning last fall, at around 1 a.m., a Kia Optima rammed into the front entrance of Chaparral Coin & Gun in Murrieta.
Hooded and masked burglars emerged, jumping over the counter and filling backpacks on their chests before making their getaway in a second vehicle, leaving the stolen Kia smashed into the building.
They were in the store for about 90 seconds, enough time to make off with 43 firearms, said Denise Geurts, who co-owns the shop with her son.
Federal authorities say the heist was the first in a series that netted the thieves more than 300 guns, which were then sold on the black market.
Six men have since been charged with conspiracy to steal firearms from the premises of a federal firearms licensee, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles announced Tuesday. The targeted businesses were in Ventura, Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties, with the most recent incident reported Saturday at Fowler Gun Room in Orange, where 70 firearms were stolen.
Those arrested were Cross Arjay Goree, 18, of Lake Elsinore; Caine Aiden Goree, 22, of Lake Elsinore; Kenneth Gilmore III, 19, of Las Vegas; Brendan Markel Hawkins, 19, of Lake Elsinore; Calvin Logan Gray, 18, of Murrieta; and Kendall Eric Johnson, 23, of Lake Elsinore.
The men are suspected of burglarizing or attempting to burglarize nine stores, each time using stolen vehicles to ram into the storefronts, smashing display cases and fleeing with firearms in other stolen cars.
Some of the stolen guns were later linked to other crimes now under investigation, according to an affidavit by Jannah R. Holden, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The first burglary happened Oct. 9 at Chaparral Coin & Gun, which the owner Geurts describes as a “ma and pa shop.” A team of four burglars took mostly Glocks, Geurts said.
Prosecutors said the crew’s modus operandi was to search neighborhoods for vehicles like the Kia to steal for temporary use as a battering ram.
Months passed before another burglary happened, on March 25 at Poway Weapons & Gear in San Diego County. In that case, Holden wrote, burglars rammed a stolen Hyundai Elantra into the front door and stole 78 firearms.
Then, on June 12, there was an attempted burglary at Ammo Bros. in Ontario, according to the affidavit. The next day, burglars tried — but failed — to break into Fallbrook Guns and Ammo.
On June 17, burglars stole 33 firearms from Firearms Unknown in Oceanside — then, a day later, 25 firearms from Ammo Bros. in Riverside.
This month, burglars hit three gun stores, first the Camarillo Gun Store on July 1, where they stole 63 firearms, then an attempted burglary of Smokin Barrel Gun Store in Simi Valley on July 9 and finally Fowler Gun Room on July 13.
The owner of Fowler Gun Room told local news outlets the burglars were equipped with headlamps and sledgehammers. When reached by phone on Tuesday, the owner declined to speak, saying it was “a little bit too soon.”
Four of the suspects — Cross Goree, Caine Goree, Johnson and Gilmore — were arrested July 13 when law enforcement searched a residence in Lake Elsinore.
During their search, officers allegedly found one firearm that had been stolen from Poway Weapons & Gear, another from Chaparral Coin & Gun, two from the Camarillo Gun Store, and at least 45 from Fowler Gun Room, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
If convicted, the men would each face up to 10 years in prison. It was not immediately clear from court records whether they have retained attorneys.
Chaparral Gun & Coin estimated their inventory loss at $25,000 and property and damage repairs of $10,000.
Geurts, 59, said most of the stolen guns were new and her shop doesn’t have insurance on its inventory because of how expensive it is. She said friends helped them fix the damage to the building.
There are now bollards in front of the shop to block any future ramming attempts and the store puts its guns away each night and is considering hiring a security guard, Geurts said.
Geurts said her husband, who started the business, died of COVID, and the robbery only added to her struggles.
“We’ve experienced a lot in the last few years,” she said. “This burglary was just the frosting on the cake so to speak. … It’ll take us years to recover that loss.”
She blamed criminals like the ones who robbed her store for giving gun owners a bad rap.
“They’re the ones causing the crimes,” she added, referring to the men who were arrested, “not normal people who come and buy their guns lawfully.”