Bandits ram vehicle into gun shop, loot handguns

Warner Robins police are looking for four masked people who, after crashing an SUV through the doors of a family owned firearms business, stole several guns in a Sunday morning heist captured on surveillance video.

The burglar alarm at Oakridge Custom Finishing on Moody Road woke up 67-year-old co-owner Gary Hadley between 5:30 a.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday.

Hadley said he arrived just about the same time as police officers to a sight he wasn’t expecting.

The front door had been rammed with a midsized SUV that ripped up the floor, ceiling, glass windows and walls.

“The damage is horrendous,” Hadley said Monday. “You give somebody a few seconds to hurt your house or your business, you’re talking about thousands and thousands ... of dollars of repair costs and time. ... This hurts us badly. It’s just killing all of us that this happened.”

The four bandits wore gloves and hoodies as they took handguns within minutes, Hadley said. He estimates damage done to the building will total $18,000 to $20,000.

“You come into a business like this, a small, family-run business, you feel violated,” he said. “They jump out, they grab what they want, and away they go. They’ve got their transportation sitting right there, and it’s also their tool to break the walls down. ... It’s rotten. It’s not good. But you tell me how to prevent that. No matter what you do, you can’t keep them from getting in.”

Hadley said he and his wife, Alexia, and their daughter, Tyson, own the nine-year-old business.

“We’ve grown over the last few years,” Hadley said, adding the gun store has been open at its third location on Moody Road for about three years. “It is a good location. Bad guys are going to find you no matter where you are.”

Oakridge Custom Finishing will be closed for a few days this week to rebuild, “and then we’re gonna keep right on cranking out,” Hadley said.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is also investigating the burglary.

Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call the Warner Robins Police Department at 478-302-5378, or call Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 1-877-68-CRIME.

This story was originally published October 3, 2016 at 1:10 PM with the headline "Bandits ram vehicle into gun shop, loot handguns."