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Deputies Recover Stolen SWAT Team Fully Automatic Rifle
September 1, 2018
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office has recovered a M4 rifle that was stolen early this week from an ECSO SWAT vehicle.
Further information on the recovery was not provided.
About 11 p.m. Saturday night, several items including a fully automatic .223 caliber M4 and several magazines of ammunition and a Taser were stolen from an Escambia County Sheriff’s Office SWAT sergeant’s vehicle. Three juveniles – Tahier Harper, 16, Torrance Sumler, 17, and Erick Smith, 17 – were charged in connection with the vehicle burglary.
A silver Ford Escape were seen fleeing the area following the burglary.
The ECSO High Intensity Patrol Unit located the vehicle, and after a brief pursuit Smith and Harper were apprehended. Several items belonging to the Sheriff’s Office were found in the vehicle, according to investigators.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office at (850) 433-STOP or Crime Stoppers at (850) 436-9620.
Comments
13 Responses to “Deputies Recover Stolen SWAT Team Fully Automatic Rifle”
Retired…..we know you are one of two folks. It’s clique not click and the poor guy is on leave while a proper investigation is carried out. He made a mistake, but I know for a fact both of you did far worse. Don’t throw stones.
Sorry Roy but this one is capable of full auto by moving the selector switch. The fact that the SWAT sergeant will face severe discipline is already in the works for a number of broken procedures. This is not normal practice but in this case, there wasn’t any really safe protective measures in place to keep this weapon off the streets. A number of weapons are stolen weekly from unlocked vehicles in Escambia County but this guy should know better. I don’t bet he gets any special treatment based on this being it was released to the media. I’m sure there is some type of internal process that must take place but there isn’t a right or a need for this guy to be named for a public flogging.
Nobody would try to defend the act of stealing anything, but in our society we all know people are going to steal. Given that fact, most of us want to know what measures our Sheriff’s Dept. is taking to keep such lethal weapons out of the wrong hands. It’s inconsequential whether it is fully or semi-automatic, or a pistol, or knife, it should not be in a car unless it is in a safe, or on the officer’s hip. By the nature of their business, a patrol car cannot be attended at all times, and trunks and windows are too easy to pop for weapons to be left unsecured in cars. So, Sheriff Morgan, tell us what happened, and tell us what you are doing to prevent it from happening again.
>>>Small detail, but a large misconception. This particular weapon doesn’t carry the “fully automatic” status. Military have three-round burst as an option (not sure about police) but this is not a fully automatic machine gun
The Escambia County Sheriff’s Office referred to it as a fully automatic M4. There is a M4A1 that is a fully automatic variant of the M4 that fires 700-950 rounds per minute, per the info here:
https://fnamerica.com/products/rifles/fn-m4a1/
Once again…let’s make it about the guns and law enforcement.
The main issue is that the three who stole the guns are not the focus of this discussion here……they had no business stealing from a unlocked OR locked vehicle…..actually they should not be steal anything from anyone….just my opinion….by the way, I do not live in Florida
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Small detail, but a large misconception. This particular weapon doesn’t carry the “fully automatic” status. Military have three-round burst as an option (not sure about police) but this is not a fully automatic machine gun. Just a detail that really erks readers with a military background.
@retired, your absolutely correct on that. What applies to most don’t to a select few. It should not matter if the guns were in a lock box or not or a rack, never leave any firearms in a unattended vehicle. This should be interesting to see how this is handled.
DEPENDS ON WHICH CLICK THE SGT. IS IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like others we’ve talked with are wondering Was the ECSO Patrol Car LOCKED Up or was it left unsecured in a driveway or on the roads-streets?
Stupid for Anyone to leave any weapon in a vehicle, Sheriff Morgan is Always Grinning Down from billboards and on t.v. saying “Lock it Up”.
Knowing the dangers on OUR Streets this SWAT Sgt. should have gone above and beyond to secure his weapons in a gun safe in his home or at work. No Guns left in cars, Sgt. DUH…
Sheriff David Morgan, your new facelift looks really good up there on more billboards and your glad-handing candidates for public office did not work out for all of them.
So, how will this Unnamed SWAT Sgt be handled?
I don’t have a problem with them having fully automatic weapons, but what about their policy prohibiting leaving weapons in their vehicle overnight?
What I can’;t figure out is why a deputy had a class 3 weapon in a patrol car, is this a common practice, are the taxpayers paying for that?
Now if Sheriff Hollywood will release the details of just HOW this weapon got stolen. Was it in a safe, or just laying in the seat? Was the deputy following established rules for securing weapons? Was the patrol car parked at his house, or was he on a call? If the rules were broken, what disciplinary action was taken on the deputy?
Starting out life with a criminal record. We will see these faces again i am sure.