7 guns, thousands of ammo rounds stolen from Oronoco residence

(ABC 6 News) – The Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office responded Thursday to a residence in the 12,000 block of Oak Lodge Lane NE, Oronoco, to investigate the burglary of 7 firearms and around 2,600 rounds of ammunition.

According to Capt. James Schueller with the OCSO, an Oronoco resident left his home around 6:40 a.m., returned at 3:30 p.m., and noticed some time later that ammunition he had piled in the corner of his room had been stolen.

The man checked for a handgun he kept in the top of his gun safe, which was also missing.

According to Schueller, the man did not know if he had closed or locked the gun safe, and the other six firearms were not stored in the safe.

Schueller said gun owners should be careful to store firearms inside gun safes, and to lock the safes when not in use.

Schueller said the man reported the following items stolen:

• One 9 mm handgun
• 700 rounds of 9 mm ammunition
• Three 12-gauge shotguns
• 300 12-gauge shotgun shells
• One 20-gauge shotgun
• One bolt-action .30-06 (“thirty-aught-six”) rifle
• 600 rounds of .30-06 ammunition
• One 223 assault rifle
• 1,000 rounds of 223 ammunition

The firearms were valued at about $2,800, while the ammunition was valued at more than $2,200.

The incident is still under investigation. The gun owner has yet to provide law enforcement with the guns’ serial numbers, Schueller said.

The serial numbers will be used to flag the firearms as stolen property, in case they are sold to a pawn shop or licensed retailer.