SWAT Standoff at McBrides gunstore in Austin

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waterhouse

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Just saw this on the news. Hopefully McBride's and all officers involved come out OK.

http://cbs13.com/national/Austin.Gun.Shop.2.566362.html

Austin police are in a standoff with man who may be barricaded inside a gun shop with what is described as one of the 'largest firearms inventories in the nation.'
Austin police officers responded to an alarm McBride's Gun Shop around 4:00am this morning found guns and weapons strewn about.

The officers were attempting to determine if anyone was inside the gun shop when the lights went out inside the building.

Austin Police spokesman Joe Muñoz says that a later call from the alarm company reported that motion sensors from the business had picked up some sort of movement.

Police are telling motorists to avoid the area because the police activity has closed off streets in the area.
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I think a gunshop is the WORST place for a standoff. Every owner and employee is armed and more willing to fire than most cops. Choose a laundromat.
 
In the video at the above link the reporter says "What a bad situation when you have automatic rifles and UZI's and all sorts of things" is there any evidence that this store has NFA items? I think its just more news hype.

Just realized it was 4am and not open. Ok Gunshop not a bad place to cause trouble.
 
I think a gunshop is the WORST place for a standoff. Every owner and employee is armed and more willing to fire than most cops. Choose a laundromat.
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Not at 4am, and if I was a thief, I would rather steal guns then laundry detergent! :)
 
Sounds like the fellow got in there before the employees did.

It also sounds like nobody's confirmed that anyone is actually in there yet. It's an off chance, but could this conceivably be an electrical problem or a deer?

Edit: Looking at the McBride's website, I can't find any evidence that they carry NFA items. Looks like a run of the mill gun store, albeit a very large and well established one.
 
That place is like a fort. I don't know how anybody would get in there unless that had a bulldozer.

I don't know about class 3 stuff but that have just about anything you can think of hunting and tacticool wise. Easily a million dollar inventory counting the separate coin and gold shop.
 
No Title II stuff at McBrides, but as mentioned they have a rather large inventory of guns and valuable coins/metals. Nice folk too.

As far as I can tell from local news reports no one knows if there is actually someone in the store right now. Could be a raccoon for all we know. A couple years ago a squirrel shut down a local mall by chewing through an electricity cable, so we are probably due for our next high dollar rodent incident. Hopefully that's all it turns out to be, but I did read a report that said the back door was forced open, so probably not.
 
Maybe this because I watch too much TV, but can't they use those "heat sensing" cameras to check if there's a warm body inside the shop? Or one of those remote-control robots with a camera on it? I have to imagine Austin PD is pretty well stocked.

Feel free to throw a newspaper at me if TV/Movie magic has corrupted my brain.
 
As of a few minutes ago.

www.kten.com/Global/story.asp?S=7353288

Associated Press - November 13, 2007 12:35 PM ET

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Austin police continue to surround a gun shop today after an early morning break-in.

They remain in position and on alert outside McBride's Guns seven hours later as they wait to see if an intruder remains in the shop.

The street where McBride's Guns is situated is a major traffic thoroughfare, but it and several others nearby remain closed throughout the rush hour.

A police spokesman says no contact has been made with anyone inside the store.

Officers responded to an intrusion alarm at McBride's before dawn and found merchandise scattered throughout the business. Police backed off after a motion detector in the building indicated movement.

Police Officer Joe Munoz (moon-YOHZ') says the phones went dead shortly thereafter, so officers called in a special tactics team.
 
***? How can they not know if someone is inside? Why don't they shine a flashlight in there and take a look? Periscopes exist for just this reason!
 
McBride's is not a class 3 dealer. They do sell expensive shotguns and rifles though (like the $10k+ variety). Crap, I was actually going to go there on my lunch hour... I'm also pretty sure that they do not have one of the largest inventories in the nation. They do have a huge blackpowder shop on their second floor. They also sell expensive hunting equipment.

It's a nice shop... how did somebody break in? It's all brick and barred steel windows...
 
According to a local news update, this is taking so long because the SWAT team has a written manual with specific steps on how to deal with the situation, and they are following the book very closely. They just showed SWAT with their armored vehicle pulling up to the front door of the store, and then announced that they would no longer be showing SWAT moves in case there was video feed inside the store that would tip off anyone who might be in there.

The ATF is now on scene to check for stolen guns whenever it all gets sorted out.

ETA: The time line they are now reporting:

Cops get a report of silent alarm.
Cops show up and see forced open door, also guns and ammo strewn about the floor.
Cops back out of the building and call SWAT.

At some point after the cops left the building, the alarm company reported that the motion detector was still going off, implying that someone or something is in there.

Currently 4 blocks of Lamar (a somewhat major road here) are shut down, and police are asking people in the area to stay in their homes/offices.
 
Thermal cameras

A heat sensor or infared camera cannot see through walls and the reflection of your image or heat signature is reflected when you point it at glass. Hollywood strikes again.

Jason:cool:
 
***? How can they not know if someone is inside? Why don't they shine a flashlight in there and take a look? Periscopes exist for just this reason!
Click to expand...

Really wouldn't work at McBride's. It's not a little 1 room shop. Multiple large rooms, back rooms, multiple rooms upstairs. It's an entire building.

Tuckerdog1
 
A retired detective who worked burglaries once told me something interesting. He said that very often when stores and other places that are open to the public were robed, The thief didn't really break in. What they did is go in during normal business hours and hide. Then all they have to do is break out leaving plenty of time to escape when the alarm goes off. Modern interior motion detectors can easily foil this technique so if you have a retail business, you might look into installing one.
 
Not sure I'd be too quick to stick my head into the building given all the firepower available to the bad guys inside of there. Lots of firearms, lots of ammo, lots of hiding places. McBrides is not the cheapest place, but they do have an extensive selection of nice stuff. Not sure if I have ever seen another gun store quite like it.
 
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