Police officials from local agencies and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are probing a break-in that occurred on Saturday at the Lincoln Stoddard Army Reserve Center in Worcester, Mass.
WCBV notes that an FBI spokesperson said that weapons went missing from a secure vault after the break-in on the facility. Military officials confirmed that 16 weapons were taken during the burglary, including six M4 rifles and ten 9-mm handguns.
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FBI spokesperson Kristen Setera said according to WMUR, “We have entered those weapons into NCIC, a national database, and alerted our federal, state and local law enforcement partners.” She added, “There is no indication that these missing weapons are connected to any kind of terrorism threat whatsoever. Nevertheless, every effort will be made to recover these weapons immediately.”
CBS Boston is reporting that the weapons heist, which started at 6 p.m. on Saturday and lasted around five hours, was caught on surveillance video. The suspect was reportedly able to enter the facility through the roof without tripping an alarm, as the facility’s alarm system had been disabled due to a construction project.
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Police officials are looking for one suspect, a light-skinned, stocky man between 5’7”-5’10” in height driving a dark-colored late-model BMW hatchback with sport rims.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said, “I’m especially concerned about it. Separate and apart from anything that has to do with terrorism, I’m concerned about the fact that some really high caliber weapons were stolen from a military facility in the first place.”
Military officials said that this is the first time that a burglar has stolen weapons from one of the Army’s 5,000 armories.
Worcester City Manager Edward Augustus said that local police will increase patrols in the area as a precautionary measure.
