1 Dead in Crosby gunstore heist

Burglars tore the door off the front of the bulding by chaining it to a pickup and pulling it out.
Burglars tore the door off the front of the building by chaining it to a pickup and pulling it out.

CROSBY – Gun shop owner Raymond Balcerowicz heard a noise outside his house Tuesday morning about 4:30 am, and when he investigated he saw several young men tearing the door off his adjacent gun shop.

The burglars exchanged gunfire with the shop owner, and then fled the scene.

Balcerowicz said that this was not the first time his building has been broken into. Last November he suffered a loss of a large quantity of guns, valued at about $25,000.

Sheriff Ed Gonzalez led the investigation, and said “He encountered them pretty quickly. A lot of shots were fired.”

About 10 minutes later, Sheriff’s deputies were called to a scene in the 3800 block of Morelos, off Wade Road. This scene was about 7 miles from the robbery at the gun shop, but deputies soon determined that the two scenes were related.

There they discovered a dead body lying in the road, near a car with its doors open. Two other suspects were detained at this site, the Sheriff said.

Upon investigation, deputies determined that the body was one of the suspects in the burglary in Crosby. Several guns were also found at this scene, and it was determined that they had been stolen from the gun shop.

Sheriff Gonzalez said that the case is being referred to a grand jury.