Railroad thefts and guns: A deadly mix in Chicago

CHICAGO: When street-gang thieves slipped with ease into a Norfolk Southern rail yard on Chicago’s South Side and ripped locks off one train, they likely expected to see merchandise like toys or tennis shoes. What they beheld instead was a gangster’s jackpot: box after box of brand new guns. The guns had been en route from New Hampshire weapon maker Sturm, Ruger and Co. to Spokane, Washington. Instead, the .45-caliber Ruger revolvers and other firearms spread quickly into surrounding high-crime neighborhoods.

Along with two other major gun thefts within three years, the robbery helped fuel a wave of violence on Chicago’s streets. The 2015 heist of the 111 guns, as well as one in 2014 and another last September from the same 63rd Street Rail Yard highlight a tragic confluence. Chicago’s biggest rail yards are on the gang- and homicide-plagued South and West sides where most of the city’s 762 killings happened last year. Chicago’s leaders regularly blame lax gun laws in Illinois and nearby states that enable a flow of illegal weapons to the city’s gangs and criminals.

But community leaders and security experts say no one seems to be taking responsibility for train-yard gun thefts. Only 16 of the stolen Rugers have been recovered since the 2015 break-in, according to hundreds of recent court records. One was used in a Jan 22, 2016, shooting. Police woke an attempted-murder suspect and found one by his bed. Another was in a dealer’s home alongside 429 bags of heroin. Police recovered another during a traffic stop; the driver said his friend had just been shot 10 times and he had to protect himself. —AP