LF: About 400 guns stolen from UPS facility in Tennessee

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — About 400 guns have been stolen from a United Parcel Service facility in Memphis, Tennessee, and authorities are concerned about the theft's potential effect on public safety in this city and elsewhere.

Two people driving a U-Haul truck stole the weapons from a UPS facility in Memphis on Sunday, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Monday. The agency is asking for the public's help in the case: It offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Investigators are looking into exactly how many guns were taken, but the estimate of 400 stolen firearms makes it one of the largest single gun thefts the ATF has investigated, bureau spokesman Michael Knight said. ATF agents and the Memphis Police Department are reviewing manifests and bills to determine where the guns were shipped from and where they were going. The UPS facility in Memphis where 400 guns were stolen, on Oct. 2, 2018. The UPS facility in Memphis where 400 guns were stolen, on Oct. 2, 2018.WKC

Memphis, like other large metropolitan areas, has a problem with violent crime, including gun-related offenses. The metro area, with more than 1.3 million people, saw an estimated 15,737 violent crimes in 2017, FBI statistics showed.

UPS said in a statement that it is working with law enforcement but does not comment on open investigations.

Such a high number of stolen guns could present a danger to the safety of the public and first responders in the west Tennessee city and elsewhere because they could be transported to other places within hours, Knight said. Recommended Memphis Chamber of Commerce CEO killed in downtown shooting Pennsylvania car explosion kills three, prompting FBI investigation

"We are concerned that the firearms will end up on the streets not only potentially in the Memphis area, but also across the country," Knight said. "The criminal element knows no geographical boundary."

ATF is asking the public to send it social media posts, photos or any other information related to the theft.

Knight said investigating a theft from a shipping facility is more complicated than a gun shop, for example, because weapons at gun stores are isolated in inventory.

"It's a very tedious process that we're looking at to make sure that every firearm is accounted for, from the shipper as well as from the receiver," Knight said.

Surprised it didn't happen sooner with all the laws regarding the shipment of guns. The boxes probably had "Warning! Danger! This Box Contains Firearms" stamped in foot-high letters all over.

Wrong, firearms boxes are not labeled as such, but handguns probably are in a separate pile.

ATF: Guns stolen from Tennessee found in Chicago suburb

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Most of the roughly 400 guns that were stolen from a United Parcel Service facility in Tennessee have been recovered in the Chicago area, federal authorities said Tuesday.

Authorities seized about 365 Ruger .22-caliber and .380-caliber firearms after police officers responded to a call about suspicious activity in the southern Chicago suburb of Midlothian on Sunday afternoon — about 12 hours after the guns were taken from a UPS facility in Memphis, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent said in court documents.

ATF had said the guns being shipped from a Ruger factory in North Carolina were taken by two men in a U-Haul truck. ATF spokesman Michael Knight said the truck was recovered along with the guns.

Court documents said officers found the truck at a store parking lot in Midlothian and questioned 24-year-old Roland Jackson of Chicago and 18-year-old Taveyan Turnbo before they both ran away.

Turnbo was arrested hours later and faces federal charges of possessing stolen firearms. He was scheduled for an initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon in Chicago. Court documents said he denied taking part in the theft at the UPS facility.

Jackson faces federal charges of being a convicted felon illegally possessing firearms. The ATF said he remained at large Tuesday.

The estimate of 400 stolen firearms makes it one of the largest single gun thefts the ATF has investigated, Knight said.

Turnbo told investigators he and Jackson had sold at least three of the guns for a total of $400, according to court documents.

UPS said it is cooperating with law enforcement.

ATF had asked the public to send social media posts, photos or any other information related to the theft. A $5,000 reward was offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.

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This story has been corrected to show that court documents say the guns were found Sunday, not Tuesday.

They're extremely luckiy they weren't shot running away -- as they so rightly deserved -- then I saw that it was the ATF making the arrests, not Chicago cops.

I'm betting the charges will be plea bargained down to possession of stolen property and sentenced to time served. And the citizens of Chicago will continue to wonder why there are so many shootings.

Chicago refuses to enforce their existing gun laws. But they want more gun laws. It's a joke.

They weren't labeled with anything that would indicate that they were firearms, according to the UPS website. Someone on the inside at UPS or USPS tipped your homeboys off about a pile of handguns from Ruger.

.380 caliber has got to be handguns. Most of them were .22 & .380's. So basically, they stole the pile of handguns at UPS. Handgun boxes are submitted to UPS separately, per the UPS policy I posted above.

UPS has something called SurePost where your UPS packages are delivered by the mailman, so UPS & USPS are virtually merged and likely share lots of data.