GLEN BURNIE, Md. — Four people under the age of 21 have been indicted on numerous gun theft charges spanning Anne Arundel, Baltimore, and Prince George's Counties. Now, authorities are working to get the stolen guns off the street.
Dating back to Christmas Eve 2023, police say four young people began a string of burglaries at various gun stores.
One of the attempted thefts was at Scott's Gunsmithing in Glen Burnie.
"As soon as I got the alarm call, I looked at my phone and I looked around the building, I could see a black car vehicle with four individuals in it get out with tools and stuff and they started to break my back door," said Robert Scharf, the owner of Scott's Gunsmithing.
The four were unsuccessful.
We've learned the four defendants are 19-year-old Cy'Juan Hemsley, 20-year-old Mahkiya McQuinn-Woodley, and two juveniles 16 and 17 years old.
According to Attorney General Anthony Brown, the four successfully stole 81 firearms all from a Prince George's County gun store, which they robbed multiple times.
"Of the 81 stolen firearms, we know that some were sold to other minors. We also know that others suspected of crimes found out that the group had stolen these firearms and robbed them on multiple occasions," said Brown.
All four defendants will be tried as adults and remain locked up without bail.
"This is unacceptable. Of the six firearms that were recovered, all were recovered from the hands of minors and other people who are prohibited from possessing firearms," said Brown.
Part of the recovery efforts so far is thanks in large part to social media.
"During the investigation, investigators located several instances of the group attempting to sell or trade the stolen firearms using social media and waving around firearms on their own social media," said Katie Dorian, office of the Attorney General Criminal Division Chief.
Now the emphasis is on stepping up and providing information that could help lead to cleaning up the community.
"It's good they found the people. Hopefully, they'll get the guns off the street. They need to start doing something about this stuff because they don't prosecute any of the juveniles. They know they can get away with all this stuff which is bull crap," said Scharf.
"Guns are not a petty theft... look at all the crime that's going on," said Scharf.
Following the announcement of the indictment, Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey and issued a statement.
As the adage goes, we hate to say it, but we told you so. While yesterday’s announcement of the arrests by the Attorney General is good news for public safety, it could have been even better if the General Assembly had passed legislation to make the theft of a firearm a felony. Then, prosecutors would be able to seek stronger penalties to keep these criminals from returning to our streets and communities,” said Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey.
Ongoing efforts are happening to recover all the stolen firearms.
Authorities are asking anyone in the community to step up and speak out if they have any information that could help them during this investigation.
The Anne Arundel County Police anonymous tip line is 410-222-4700.
The Prince George's County Police anonymous tip line is 1-866-411-TIPS.
