AUBURN – A report of gunfire on Pleasant Street early Wednesday led police to a half dozen handguns reported stolen days before from a downtown shop.

Two local men are facing federal charges after the case was handed over to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Auburn police officers following up the case early Wednesday were led from one witness to another until they had rounded up the weapons as well as their suspects.

It started over the weekend when Reid’s Gun and Cigar Shop on Court Street was reportedly broken into, police said. Investigators said thieves had broken into the store sometime late Friday night.

The burglary was discovered and reported Saturday morning. Investigators said six handguns – revolvers and semiautomatics – had been stolen in the heist. The case was handed over to Auburn police detectives.

Just after midnight Wednesday, a caller reported hearing what sounded like gunshots on Pleasant Street.

Officer Matt Tufts was on Center Street and heard the same report of gunfire. He went to Pleasant Street to investigate and called for backup.

Initially, nothing was found. But Tufts and police Sgt. Tim Cougle began knocking on doors in the area where the shots were heard.

“We found two or three people who heard the gunshots,” Cougle said Wednesday.

While police were questioning a woman in an apartment near where the shots were fired, a cordless phone rang, police said. An officer overheard the caller asking about the guns and continued to question the woman.

Later, the cordless phone rang again. This time, it was the mother of a local man who wanted to speak with the police officer in the room. She also wanted to report her son may have been involved in the theft of guns.

Following that lead, police then went to an apartment on Bearce Street where they found a man who admitted he had a revolver and a semiautomatic. Those guns were recovered.

Initially, that man insisted he had found the guns on the train trestle and that he had fired one of them on Pleasant Street to scare a group of attackers, police said.

Detective Chad Syphers was called from home to join the investigation and he began questioning the suspect. Shortly after, that suspect led investigators to another local man believed to be involved in the break-in at Reid’s.

Police officers who went back to the apartment on Pleasant Street, where the original reports of gunfire were reported, found an additional four handguns. They had been stashed above ceiling tiles, police said.

In addition to the guns recovered, police said they confiscated several rounds of ammunition.

“We basically got six handguns off the streets,” Cougle said. “The patrol officers working on this did an excellent job of following through and cracking the case.”

The case against the two suspects, local men said to be in their early 20s, is being handed over to federal prosecutors.

mlaflamme@sunjournal.com

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