UPDATED: Man charged after five handguns stolen in break and enter

HALIFAX – A 38-year-old man has been charged following a brazen break and enter at a Dartmouth hunting store early Saturday morning.

Halifax Regional Police say officers were initially called just after 4 a.m. for an alarm at a business in Lower Sackville. It appeared someone had driven a vehicle through the doors, but nothing was stolen.

While officers were investigating that incident, there was another alarm triggered at Better Buy Sports on Windmill Road in Dartmouth.

“It’s very brazen,” said Staff Sgt. Bill Morris.

It’s alleged the suspect stole five handguns before fleeing.

“The guns were all stored properly. They had trigger locks on them. They were in a locked safe area and the suspect just drove the vehicle directly through the front door of the business and helped himself to the weapons,” Morris said.

RCMP officers later noticed the suspect walking along the Magazine Hill and recovered all five handguns. The vehicle believed to have been used to smash the store window was discovered in a parking lot approximately half a kilometer from the hunting store.

The suspect was taken to the hospital after his arrest, where it was determined he suffered a broken wrist. As a result, the Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT) was contacted and its investigators are looking into the circumstances surrounding the suspect’s arrest and injury.

Meanwhile, the Halifax man has been charged with multiple criminal offences including break and enter, mischief, theft of a motor vehicle, impaired driving, possession of stolen property, breaches of court orders and being unlawfully at large.

He also faces numerous firearms-related charges and will appear in Dartmouth Provincial Court at a later date.