Video shows 4 men trying to break into Beech Grove gun store with sledgehammer

BEECH GROVE, Ind. (WISH) — Four men armed with a sledgehammer and backpacks tried to get into Beech Grove Firearms around 5 a.m. Sunday, and police say this store was not their only stop.

They took a look at the door and the locks, then gave the door a couple of kicks. When the door withstood their kicks, one of the men goes after a sledge hammer, they had left in an alley and started swinging. The door withstood the attack. The four men were first spotted on video just a few minutes after five Sunday morning when they walked up to the back door of Beech Grove Firearms. 

The owner of the store is Greg Burge, a retired Indianapolis metro police officer. 

“I do I know from my past experience in law enforcement that these guns turn up everywhere, California, Chicago. It is unbelievable how the underground black market; it works almost as fast as the internet. I mean the gun leaves here at 5 a.m. and — bam — by sunrise, the gun is already in Chicago,” said Burge. 

Video from a neighboring business shows what is believed to be the same men showing up in separate cars. Burge has collected a series of videos from his security system of the four men as they moved around the exterior of the store. 

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sent an email to all federally licensed gun dealers in central Indiana that said two other stores had been hit the same morning. The suspects were not successful in any of their robbery attempts.  

“Watching the video, they obviously came prepared. They brought tools, I can only assume they brought the tools to the party to do a criminal act of breaking in my store,” said Burge.

The four men attempted to hide their faces from the camera; however, the young man holding the backpack earlier is again spotted at the front door, but this time the video is in color and you can clearly see his bright red shoes.  

Also in the video, one of the individuals is wearing a backpack on the front of his body, unzipped and ready. There is no doubt that backpack had one purpose: to fill up with as many handguns as they possibly could to maximize their efforts that morning. 

Police are asking if you have any information or recognize these four individuals to please call Crime Stoppers at 317-262-TIPS.