KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — After a weapon was stolen from an off-duty Kalamazoo County deputy’s vehicle, the agency has changed its weapon storage policy when it comes to personal vehicles.
The theft happened Sept. 23 around 7 p.m. on Portage Street near Kilgore Road in Kalamazoo as the off-duty Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office road patrol deputy ate with family at a pub. The gun, which was an agency-issued rifle, was being stored into the deputy’s personal vehicle. A pub worker saw the break-in happening and told the deputy.
KDPS: Department-issued gun stolen from deputy’s personal vehicle
The deputy went out to the parking lot to find the passenger window of the vehicle shattered and the suspect nearby with the rifle bag. After chasing the suspect to no avail, the deputy notified authorities, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety responded to the scene, where witnesses and surveillance footage led them to the suspect: Cortez Lavelle Hopkins, a 24-year-old man known for prior thefts from vehicles in the area, according to the sheriff’s office.
After getting a search warrant, deputies tracked Hopkins through surveillance footage and information from community members. They found him two days later, hiding in a closet in a Kalamazoo apartment. He was taken into custody and arraigned Sept. 26 on weapons and larceny charges. He is due back in court on Oct. 8.
When deputies searched the apartment where Hopkins was found, the stolen rifle was not there. Police ultimately found the rifle on Oct. 3 with help from other law enforcement agencies and information from interviews with Hopkins and people connected to him. The sheriff’s office did not say where the rifle was found.
Because of the theft, the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office revised its weapons and ammunition storage policy so that deputies are prohibited from storing or leaving agency-issued guns in personal vehicles at any time. They must be stored “securely and in accordance with established safe storage methods,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a release.
