According to IMPD, the teens stole nine guns and investigators have been working to recover them.
John Nokes, a special investigator with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, said one of the weapons, an AR-15 riffle was found in Lawrence. Another was found during a police investigation March 12.
Police were executing a search warrant in the 3300 block of East New York Street. They found a handgun that had been reported stolen out of Gary, an AR-15 that was reported stolen from 500 Guns along with cocaine and marijuana.
When police take guns off the street, they have a special database that they use to track it back to the owner. That’s how they were able to determine an AR 15 was one of the guns stolen from the west side gun shop.
“We are going to trace it backwards,” said Nokes. “All the steps that have been taken from the time it left somewhere legally to where it ended up illegally.”
They’re able to do that through a gun tracing system. They enter the serial number, make and model of the gun. Then the system pulls up a rundown of the names of people who have legally owned it.
The information is also run through the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network. That tells investigators if that firearm has been used in another shooting or crime.
Just last year, ATF traced about 5,100 firearms in Indianapolis that were recovered by police officers to other crimes.
This article was originally published by a www.wthr.com . Read the Original article here. .