Chester County men stole 24 guns in early morning heist, police say

Two dozen unloaded stolen guns were tossed in the grass, into trees and across parking lots in Malvern after they were taken in the burglary of a Chester County gun shop Tuesday, police said.

Shane Wolf, 23, of Downingtown, and Taylor O'Brien, 22, of Malvern, were arrested several hours apart Tuesday after the 5 a.m. gun heist at Chester County Outdoors, on Lancaster Avenue in Malvern, East Whiteland police said.

Great Valley school officials enacted a precautionary lockdown until O'Brien was apprehended, police said.

Wolf and O'Brien were recorded on surveillance cameras at Chester County Outdoors, police said. Each was charged with burglary, criminal trespass, theft, receiving stolen property, criminal mischief, and possessing instruments of crime, said Tricia Doyle, a detective sergeant with the East Whiteland police.

Doyle said she believes all the firearms were recovered.

Video surveillance at Chester County Outdoors shows two figures on camera with their faces covered with cloth, Doyle said.

They smashed a glass entrance to make their way inside the store around 5:08 a.m., grabbed 24 new and used firearms and fled on foot once they were spotted by

a Malvern Borough police officer who was near Chester County Outdoors for an unrelated service call, Doyle said.

A man who answered the phone at Chester County Outdoors Wednesday declined to comment, citing an ongoing investigation.

"An officer saw them running across the street with guns," Doyle said of the suspects, adding that one of the men carried a rifle "like a football" while other guns were carried in a bag. No ammunition was taken, she said.

Wolf was arrested immediately after the break-in, but Doyle said O'Brien "was just running around the woods" before he was found hiding under a local homeowner's deck.

"The minute I encountered him [O'Brien], he said he wanted to talk to his lawyer," Doyle said. "He was pretty inconvenienced by the whole thing."

Wolf was more cooperative during police questioning, Doyle said.

"When I interviewed him, he was disappointed in himself," Doyle said. "I would say he was pretty bummed. He was scared. He hasn't been in that kind of trouble before."

But as police pressed Wolf harder during questioning, Doyle said, "he wanted to get a lawyer."

Each man is being held on $250,000 bail.