Around 4 a.m. Friday morning, at least two masked suspects broke into Freedom First Outfitters on Old Stagecoach Road in east Camden and stole 10 Glock handguns.
Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) deputies arrived just moments after the alarm was relayed to them through dispatchers, but the burglars were gone. According to a KCSO incident report, the first deputy to respond to the scene found the front door intact, but as they went around the people found a side door had been broken and that there was glass all over the ground. The deputy was unable to get inside due to bars on the door.
That deputy waited in front of the doors for backup to arrive. While doing so, they found a holster laying on the ground beside the side door that appeared to have come from on top of a filing cabinet just inside the door. A red knife was also found on the ground and collected as evidence.
Deputies noted that while trying to contact the store owners, they noticed a four-door car backed in next to a semi-truck near the business. A deputy looked into both the car and the truck without seeing anyone inside. A while later, however, they heard a door shut and the car start up. It then left the area at a high rate of speed with no lights on. A deputy gave chase, but could not locate it, getting as far as Haile Street.
Kershaw County Sheriff Lee Boan said despite the bars on the door, the suspects managed to get inside.
“They had to have squeezed in an opening only inches wide and climbed straight up a cabinet to enter,” Boan said. “I went to the scene myself. It looked impossible, but they made it in somehow.”
Boan confirmed the burglars were caught on security footage outside the shop, which is how deputies know they were masked. One appears to be substantially shorter than the other.
“Our deputies were originally convinced they didn’t get in. There was a motion detector just inside the door and they went to the closest gun rack and took the guns from there. They must have exited just before deputies arrived,” the sheriff said.
Boan said the suspect’s car apparently was on an auto shop property next door.
“Our guys started checking cars there, including theirs, and couldn’t see anyone in side,” he said. “We think they couldn’t get back to their car in time as deputies started arriving, so they went into the woods or somewhere else by — we’re not sure exactly — and then once our guys went back around the store, they got in their car and took off. That’s how close they were to getting caught.”
