Crime & Safety

Rifle Thief on the Loose in Vacaville, Shut Down at Middle School Wednesday

Police are still looking for the suspected burglar, who is described as a white male approximately 18 years old who is around 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds with light colored hair.

Vacaville police are looking for a man suspected of stealing rifles from a home on Wednesday.
           
A citizen called police around 10:55 a.m. Wednesday about a man with a rifle in a creek near the 700 block of Linwood Street, police Lt. Matt Lydon said.
           
The citizen said he had a short conversation with the man, who then fled northwest along the creek, Lydon said.
           
Officers who responded found several hunting rifles abandoned on the north side of the creek but had not yet received a report about a residential burglary in the area, Lydon said.
           
Police set up a perimeter and requested Willis Jepson Middle School at 580 Elder St. be placed on lockdown during the search for the man, Lydon said.
           
Police searched for two hours with a K-9 unit and with help from a California Highway Patrol helicopter but did not find the man, Lydon said.

The school lockdown was then lifted.
           
Using the serial number on one of the rifles, a local gun store informed police who had purchased the rifle. Police then contacted the owner of the rifle, who said he stored the rifle at the home of one of his hunting buddies, Lydon said.
           
Police then contacted that person, who lives on Linwood Street, and determined he had been burglarized, according to Lydon.
           
Police are still looking for the suspected burglar, who is described as a white male approximately 18 years old who is around 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds with light colored hair, Lydon said.
           
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Mark Ferreira at (707) 449-5258.


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