A 19-year-old Tustin man and his three underaged accomplices were arrested Saturday morning after crashing a stolen car into the Saddleback Valley Gun Center in Laguna Niguel, stealing firearms and ammo, and fleeing in a second stolen vehicle, leaving the first car at the scene.
Witnesses called the Orange County Sheriff’s Department after witnessing a Hyundai Sonata crash into the store at 27601 Forbes Road at 3:23 a.m., Lt. Matt Timmins said. That location is west of the 5 Freeway and north of Crown Valley Parkway.
The suspects stole a gun, two pellet guns and ammunition and fled the scene in a second stolen car, this one a Kia Rio, before deputies arrived.
Deputies responded within five minutes of the call and began searching for the stolen vehicle. Around 4 a.m., they located it, initiating a pursuit that ended in Tustin with several sheriff’s units in on the chase.
The suspects were taken into custody, with the adult booked on burglary, vandalism, conspiracy, receiving a stolen vehicle and open carry of a firearm in a vehicle. He was being held on $20,000 bail.
Last summer, in another gun store burglary tied to a stolen car crashing into a building, burglars stole 70 firearms from a gun store in Orange.
Six suspects in that case were arrested, tied to a series of similar heists involving 300 guns in Murrieta, Poway, Oceanside, Riverside and Camarillo. Additional thefts were attempted in Ontario, Fallbrook and Simi Valley.