Large gun cache is found

A large cache of stolen weapons being unloaded from a car into a juvenile's bedroom were recovered in Salt Lake County Wednesday.

Now investigators are looking for three juveniles, all about 15 years old, and trying to determine why they had the weapons and what they planned to do with them.

About 8 a.m. Wednesday, a concerned citizen called the sheriff's office after noticing juveniles carrying "armloads" of rifles from a car into a house near 5400 South and 4800 West. When the juvenile realized he had been spotted by the citizen, he and a friend ran off, said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Paul Jaroscak.

Investigators arrived and found a total of 20 rifles and eight handguns in the car and a juvenile's bedroom inside the house, he said. Some of the guns were loaded. In addition, detectives recovered three ski masks, ammunition and a lap top.

Some of the guns had tags on them, which led Salt Lake City police to Hy & Mike's Pawn, 505 S. Redwood Road. There, they discovered that at about 4:30 a.m. someone had broken in, smashed display cases and took a large number of rifles and handguns, said Salt Lake City police detective Jeff Bedard.

Investigators were still trying to determine Wednesday afternoon if all the weapons recovered in Salt Lake County came solely from the pawn shop or if other locations were involved.

No evidence was found in the vehicle or the juvenile's bedroom pointing to what the trio intended to do with the weapons, Jaroscak said.

The juvenile whose room in which the guns were found lives with his parents. He has not been seen since the discovery of the guns, Jaroscak said.

Detectives were continuing to look for the juveniles on Wednesday.

Also early Wednesday, three people wearing ski masks went into a convenience store, just two blocks from where the guns were found, and stole cases of beer, Jaroscak said. Surveillance video from the store shows three people wearing masks similar to the ones found in the car.

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