Surveillance video shows a woman stealing a machine gun from the eastern Bexar County shooting range
“Let’s just hope we get the gun back and nobody gets hurt with that gun,” said the owner of the LoneStar Handgun.
SAN ANTONIO – A machine gun is reported stolen from a shooting range in eastern Bexar County. The theft occurred two days ago at the LoneStar Handgun, according to the owner.
Several surveillance videos shared with KENS 5 capture a woman entering the retail store, renting her gun, and leaving the property with the gun on Friday afternoon.
The range owner said she arrived shortly after 2 p.m. and expressed interest in purchasing a gun, but wanted to try out some firearms first. The woman filled out a liability form and was rented a gun.
“She went out to the range, shot, came back with the gun and said, ‘I think I want to try the machine gun,'” said Josh Felker, founder and president of LoneStar Handgun.
Felker said he rented an MP5 machine gun, a powerful 9mm pistol capable of firing 900 rounds per minute. After customers have rented their firearms, they would have to go to the range next door to have staff remove a trigger and load the gun before firing.
However, surveillance video captured the alleged thief carrying the machine gun around the parking lot and inside a white truck. He leaves moments later. Felker said he was busy on business Friday and admitted it took at least a couple of hours for staff to figure out what had happened.
The staff member who also rented the firearm did not follow the policy in place to prevent thefts like this from happening. Felker said the employee accepted cash from the woman instead of a credit card for the transaction. The staff then realized that the identity card, kept in exchange for a rent, did not belong to the woman and wrote false information on the liability form.
“In [the employee’s] defense, his mother died early last week. And so she was at work not because she had to be at work, but because she wanted to be at work. And just like that her mind was elsewhere. It’s not excusable, but it happens” Felker said.
Felker said the range is currently reviewing their policies although it could change the experience for those who follow the rules.
“We’re looking at probably everyone who hires at least one machine gun will need to be escorted onto the range, which will commit more range staff, which will increase the cost, which will also take away from their ability to supervise the others in line, but nobody wants them to be stolen firearms, especially machine guns,” Felker said.
Felker reported what happened to the ATF and the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office. We have contacted BCSO and have had no response as of this writing.
For now, Felker is asking anyone with information for help.
“Let’s just hope we get the gun back and nobody gets hurt with that gun,” he said.
Felker said the gun was unloaded and had a trigger at the time of grip.
