Big R has seven guns stolen; burglars hit 3 other businesses

At least four commercial burglaries have been reported in Santa Fe in the past week.

Mike’s Garage, Santacafé and Subway on St. Michael’s Drive reported robberies this past weekend. The Big R store was broken into Tuesday.

No arrests have been made, Santa Fe police Capt. Anthony Tapia said.

A Subway employee noticed a large hole in a window when he arrived to work at about 8:30 a.m. Saturday, according to a Santa Fe police report.

Video footage of the incident shows a person breaking into the restaurant late Friday night.

While the thief took the cash register, valued at about $300, there was no money inside. Repairs to the store are estimated to cost $1,000, the police report states.

The burglary at Santacafé was reported a few hours later, when a passerby called police at about 10:40 a.m. after noticing the building had a broken window with blood spots nearby.

According to the police report, an employee told investigators that the last time anyone had been inside the building was March 20 and that there was no known damage at that time.

Video footage of the incident shows a person breaking the window with a tool, entering the building and throwing a black cash register out the window.

The register was worth an estimated $200 and had $500 inside, the report states.

While the Subway and Santacafé burglaries are under investigation, they appear to be the only two that may be connected because of the similar methods used to break into the buildings and the items stolen, Tapia said.

At about 11 p.m. Saturday, two men stole six tires worth $1,500 from Mike’s Garage. The men went through a hole in the fence to the shop’s backyard and then put the tires in a four-door sedan.

On Tuesday, a man broke into Big R and stole seven firearms, according to a police report. Video surveillance shows him backing up a four-door Chevy truck to the window near the sporting goods section, then driving away and pulling off the security bars.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has picked up the case, Tapia said.

The man then went inside, tipped over a display case and took the guns, according to the report.

Officers were unable to take fingerprints or DNA samples at the scene because the man wore gloves, the report states. He did leave behind two tools he used to break into the building.