CONVERSE – A submachine gun once safely locked up in a Converse gun store and shooting range now may be out on the streets of South Texas.
Around 1 p.m. on Friday, surveillance footage shows this woman stealing a Heckler Koch Fully Automatic 9mm MP5 from Lonestar Handgun Store and Range.
“She rented a handgun, filled out a release form, gave the ID. She was wearing a hat and sunglasses, which is not uncommon for someone to keep that on because both those are required while on the shooting range,” said Lonestar Handgun President Josh Felker.
Surveillance video showed her trying out the handgun, then walking back to rent the submachine gun.
Instead of walking back to the range, she took the gun worth $2,500 and walked out into the parking lot where a white Ford Ranger picked her up and took off.
“Losing a firearm on the financial side, that is not what upsets me. What upsets me is the potential criminal element that can go along with that. The last thing I want to do is ever sell a firearm to somebody that does something illegal with it,” Felker said.
Felker immediately turned to law enforcement and the news for help tracking down what he calls sophisticated criminals.
“The license plates were covered up by the tailgate being down. So [this was] definitely preplanned,” he said.
The thief gave an ID to rent the guns, which is required. However, Felker later found out it was the ID of a similar-looking woman who died in December.
“If you were to look real hard, you might be able to tell differences. But it’s one of those things unless you’re looking real hard, you wouldn’t notice,” he said.
But Felker was first to admit that some policies were not followed that day.
“One of the policies that wasn’t followed was credit cards. We require credit cards on rental firearms. Yesterday one of my guys, he took cash, which you can’t trace,” he said.
Then renting the submachine gun has a protocol of its own.
“On the machine guns, everything is locked up. My range staff does always unlock it, watches them shoot, and then they bring it back in. But yeah, but we’re going to have to change that policy now. We’re going to have to escort people,” he said.
Felker wanted to be transparent, saying while this is a rare occurrence, he knows it’s a terrible situation and doesn’t want it happening again.
“What bothers me is that it can be used in a criminal element and somebody might get hurt from using it,” he said.
He begs anyone with information to contact Bexar County Sheriff’s Office immediately.
BCSO said the woman used a fake email address and phone number on the form, and they’re currently trying to get fingerprints off the ID left behind.
They describe her as a black woman between 25 and 35 with a tattoo over her right chest area.
If you recognize her, call 210-335-6000.