Police say 3 guns stolen from unlocked vehicles in Leechburg past week

Leechburg police are asking residents to be vigilant about locking their vehicle doors after three guns were stolen in less than a week.

Police Chief Jason Schaeffer said all three handguns were stolen overnight from unlocked vehicles. The first one was taken from a vehicle parked along Logan Street early last week.

Two other guns were taken over the weekend from vehicles along Lincoln Avenue, he said.

Officers are investigating the thefts, but so far have not been able to recover any video from nearby homes to help identify the suspects.

“After the first gun was taken, we tried to tell people through social media to be careful about leaving their vehicles unlocked, especially if they have guns,” Schaeffer said. “I know that sometimes with a key fob you think the doors are locked, but they aren’t, or maybe your kid gets hold of it and unlocks it.

“But if you have a gun in the vehicle, you need to make sure it’s locked. To me, that’s just common sense. But there was some backlash from people, which I don’t understand. So here we are with two more guns floating around on the streets,” the chief said.

A post about the thefts on the Leechburg Beat Facebook page questioned the responsibility of gun owners who fail to keep their weapons secured, while others said they shouldn’t be judged too harshly for being forgetful.

Schaeffer said stolen guns often end up in the hands of criminals.

“It’s not only a danger to the public, it’s a danger to law enforcement,” he said. “We don’t want to go to any more police funerals.”

The chief said the lack of around-the-clock police coverage in Leechburg creates an open door for criminal activity.

“In this case, I firmly believe they know we’re not here,” he said. “That’s not hard to know in a small community like us.

“They know that more than likely there is only one officer on duty at a time. And when the police vehicle is parked outside the station for hours and there’s no activity, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that we’re not here.”

Schaeffer said it’s important to have patrol officers on duty when businesses are open and schools are in session.

“We don’t want to leave the business district wide open. But you’ve got to cut somewhere,” he said. “So, it’s either going to be overnight or on the weekends when we don’t have anybody on duty.”

State Police respond to calls in Leechburg when there are no borough officers scheduled, the chief said.

“They (State Police) will answer the call, but they are shorthanded and have to respond from up near Kittanning,” Schaeffer said.

Mayor Tony Roppolo said he was angered by the thefts.

“I’m really upset about this because we can’t even say that these cars were broken into. They were entered because the doors were unlocked,” he said.

“That’s three guns in the hands of people who probably shouldn’t have them. It sickens me to know that these guns could end up being used against our own police officers or residents.”