Police report: Guns part of burglary haul

Eight rifles and a shotgun were stolen in an early morning burglary of a store on the city’s east side minutes after fires were reported at two businesses on the west side of Clovis, according to a police report released Thursday.

Clovis police confirmed the guns were stolen from Gebo's at 3:34 a.m. Sunday but said they don’t know of the burglary is connected to earlier fires at Clovis Livestock Auction and Johnson’s Lumber Company.

Four officers responded to an alarm at Gebo’s, 101 Sycamore St., according to the report. The report said surveillance video caught two suspects breaking glass on the front door.

The suspects then entered the building, broke into the gun case and grabbed “numerous weapons,” that the report identified as either AR-15’s or rifles. Once the suspects took the guns, they fled north and left the scene.

Police spokesman Capt. Patrick Whitney said detectives assigned to the investigation have received all the serial numbers for the stolen guns and have entered them into the National Crime Investigation Center (NCIC) computer system as stolen.

The fires at Clovis Livestock Auction on Hull Street and Johnson's Lumber Company on Seventh Street remain under investigation by the Clovis Fire Department.

“It's a coincidence, but there's no evidence to support a connection,” Police Chief Steve Sanders said on Wednesday morning.

Whitney said police have no suspects and their investigation continues.

“We're pouring through quite a bit of video, and it may or may not be connected to the fires,” Whitney said, “but of course it's suspicious that they started right before the break-in.”

Whitney said investigators are also reviewing Saturday's video footage from Gebo's as well as the nearby Elk's Lodge. The police department also has informants out on the street “putting the word out,” Whitney said, to gather as much information as possible about the case.