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OGDEN -- Police in Ogden say a string of car break-ins may be targeting hunters. The thieves seem to be looking for one thing: weapons.
In the past 10 days, there have been several car prowls in the northeast area of the city.
"Indication would be they're probably targeting the cars that have firearms in them," says Ogden Police Lt. Mike Ashment."
On Oct 20, thieves stole two shotguns left in the backseat of a truck, which was parked in a driveway on Collins Boulevard, but other valuables in the vehicle were untouched.
The same day, on Quincy Avenue, thieves smashed the window of a truck with a rock and took a shotgun and rifle. The weapons were inside black plastic cases, left on the backseat. The thieves also took five red plastic gas cans.
"We can't account for where these firearms are right now. If somebody's of a criminal mind and is going to break into a car, you wonder what they may be willing to do with the firearm once they have it," Ashment says.
Police say car prowlers also rummaged through another truck and ransacked a travel trailer, possibly looking for guns.
The crimes are unsettling to hunters like Jim Blanchard.
"I used to, just like I said, leave it in the rack on the back of my truck, but that day is gone," he says.
Blanchard says he has a safe in his car, but police are urging hunters to secure their weapons in their homes.
Police believe the same people are behind the rash of break-ins.
E-mail: syi@ksl.com
