Cops: AR-15 rifle stolen from unmarked OPD patrol car

Orlando police officers have been ordered to take all firearms out of vehicles at shift’s end after another high-powered gun was stolen out of an unmarked car Tuesday morning, a spokeswoman said.It’s the second time it has happened in about two weeks....

Cops: AR-15 rifle stolen from unmarked OPD patrol car

Orlando police officers have been ordered to take all firearms out of vehicles at shift’s end after another high-powered gun was stolen out of an unmarked car Tuesday morning, a spokeswoman said.

It’s the second time it has happened in about two weeks. A spokeswoman said the order is a short-term solution as the department seeks to alter its vehicle policy long-term.

The latest is believed to have happened sometime between midnight and 5 a.m. at Lake Nona Water Mark Apartments, 7650 Lower Gateway Loop.

The thieves busted the Orlando police sergeant’s back window and took an AR-15 along with the entire gun mount locking device, police said.

Police say the vehicle was locked and an alarm was armed.

It was one of seven vehicles in the apartment complex that was broken into.

The other incident happened on Jan. 28.

Authorities have not made any arrests or recovered the two high-powered rifles stolen from police cars in Orlando and Eustis during the weekend.

The wife of Tavares police Officer Jared Blessing called police Sunday after she saw someone had broken into her husband’s patrol car, which was parked...

Authorities have not made any arrests or recovered the two high-powered rifles stolen from police cars in Orlando and Eustis during the weekend.

The wife of Tavares police Officer Jared Blessing called police Sunday after she saw someone had broken into her husband’s patrol car, which was parked...

About 11 a.m., Orlando police SWAT Team member Officer Mitchell Bowhay called to say his unmarked police car was stolen from the parking lot of a Baldwin Park apartment complex. It was stolen sometime between 3 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Police found the unoccupied car less than a mile away at an apartment complex off Old Cheney Highway. They also found some of the equipment that was missing from the car, including a SWAT uniform and rappelling gear.

An automatic UMP .45-caliber firearm with four magazines, along with two other loaded magazines from a handgun, were missing, police said.

A police spokeswoman has declined to say if the car was locked but said the weapon was in a “locked and secured container.”

According to department policy, the doors must be locked on a police vehicle and the alarm must be on.

The policy previously stated firearms could be left in the vehicle, but secured with a gun lock.

In a third recent gun theft of a law enforcement vehicle, an AR-15 rifle with a scope and two 30-round magazines was stolen out of a Tavares police officer’s car while it was parked in the driveway of his Eustis home.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477.

dharris@orlandosentinel.com, 407-420-5471 or @DavidHarrisOS

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