Persons of interest interviewed in gun store heist

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Police have located the vehicle and are questioning several persons of interest.

GLENVILLE — The investigation into Monday morning’s brazen gun store heist in Glenville moved quickly Tuesday as investigators focused on persons of interest and prepared to search a car believed used in the operation.

No arrests had been reported by Tuesday evening, but police did find the car, a Nissan Altima, parked on the street in Schenectady and police questioned multiple people in the case, Glenville Police Chief Steve Janik said.

Police and store owners also looked for answers as to why Target Sports’ alarm system did not go off.

Surveillance cameras recorded the three separate suspects as they removed more than 40 guns, mostly handguns, in the span of two hours, Janik said.

“Currently we are speaking with and interviewing several persons of interest,” Janik said. “We have not made any arrests at this time and we have not recovered any firearms.”

But, Janik said, police have recovered evidence, including blood from the scene.

“I would like to say that I do not believe that anybody in the town of Glenville or the surrounding areas is in any danger at this time,” Janik said. “It is most likely that these weapons weren’t being stolen for personal use, rather just to move.”

Janik said the prospect of them being used at all had town police immediately contact the ATF and state police for assistance in the investigation.

Investigators worked through the night Monday into Tuesday and throughout the day Tuesday, Janik said.

Janik spoke at a news conference flanked by Brian Mein, special agent in charge of ATF Albany, and state police Lt. Robert Appleton.

Police were called to the store at 122 Saratoga Road just after 9 a.m. Monday. One of the store’s owners arrived for the day and discovered the store had been burglarized. He alerted police.

Owners and the ATF continued to complete an inventory of the store’s firearms Tuesday evening to determine the exact number of firearms taken. The original 40 estimate is expected to rise once the inventory is complete, Janik said.

Police used surveillance video from the store to narrow down the burglary from between midnight and 2:30 a.m.

Police released surveillance stills of each of the three suspects who entered the store. Each, however, wore dark clothing, hoods and rubber gloves. None of the images released caught facial features.

While the surveillance video captured the images, the system failed to alert either the owners or the police.

“I can tell you if the alarm system went off, then they wouldn’t have been in there for over two hours,” Janik said. “They would have exited immediately and we would have been contacted.

“So were they worried? I think that once they did make entry into the building, once they were able to move property out of the building, they probably became more — they took greater risks and didn’t really think about it.”

Store owners are cooperating with police.

One of the owners, Dennis Donoghue, said Tuesday that they are trying to find out what happened with the alarm system.

An alarm company representative was at the store most of Monday night, went through the whole system and pronounced it working fine, Donoghue said.

Tests of the motion detectors showed them to trip the alarm and records showed it armed Saturday night and disarmed Monday morning when the owner arrived to open.

“The system just was not triggered and we don’t know why,” Donoghue said. “Nobody can tell us why.”

Donoghue did not know when the system was last fully tested, but everything indicated to the owners prior to the break-in that it worked, he said.

Federal regulations do not require that guns stores have alarm systems.

Physical security, including alarm systems, however, are “highly recommended,” according to the ATF. Among other recommendations, the ATF suggests that systems be tested on a regular basis.