Stolen property recovered from gun store in Air Force raid
An Air Force raid conducted at a central valley gun store Friday was meant to recover stolen property, an Air Force official said Sunday.
Linda Card, spokeswoman with the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations based in Quantico, Va., said investigators who conducted Friday afternoon’s raid at the gun store recovered property stolen from Nellis Air Force Base.
“It was nothing lethal,” Card said. “There were no weapons involved.”
She said she didn’t know exactly what was recovered but said the store owner was interviewed and has been cooperative.
“Whatever it was came from Nellis, and they’ve given it back to Nellis,” Card said.
Card said more interviews will be conducted on Wednesday. She described the investigation as ongoing.
The gun store, Citadel Gun & Safe, is at 4305 S. Dean Martin Drive, near Flamingo Road.
Card said officials conducted the raid after obtaining two federal warrants for stolen Air Force property.
She said Las Vegas police and the FBI helped in the raid because there were many unknowns before the operation.
“They didn’t know what they were dealing with,” Card said. “As it turns out, it was nothing more than just stuff stolen from the base.”
Witnesses saw SWAT officers shouting “search warrant” enter the store with guns drawn.
One witness, Joe Gold, whose Bahama Mamas cigar office sits behind the gun store in the business park off Interstate 15, described to the Review-Journal on Friday what he saw.
“We saw them break that door and everything,” Gold said. “They were everywhere here.”
Police were seen going in and out of an office behind the gun store that witnesses thought was not being used.
Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.
