Days after VB police chief's warning, 3 teenagers arrested for weapons theft

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – Three teenagers were arrested for breaking into cars and stealing guns on 27th 1/2 Street near the Oceanfront over the weekend. This comes after the police chief raised this issue a few days ago.

Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate told the City Council that not a day goes by without his officers seeing juveniles with stolen guns on social media. Many of those guns, the chief told the council, rival those in the police department.

“We are very diligent and very proactive in trying to get illegally possessed firearms out of the hands of minors in our community,” Neudigate said during a council work session.

Saturday evening, police were called to the 400 block of 27th Street 1/2 after a group of teenagers broke into a parked car. The police then arrested two 17-year-olds and another 16-year-old. The group had two stolen firearms.

“If I gave you a presentation and showed you some of the Instagram posts that we see on a daily basis of young people in Virginia Beach with weapons, with weapons that rival the quality and caliber of what our officers carry, often with high quality weapons. capacity chargers, it's quite [disconcerning]” Neudigate said.

10 On Your Side toured the neighborhood where the guns were stolen. Several short-term rentals and apartments made up the block. The people we spoke with off camera were unaware of the crime.

Neudigate urges city residents and visitors to own firearms responsibly.

“Leaving those who are unsecured and unprotected in vehicles, we have implored our community not to do this,” Neudigate said, “but what we see in the backseat, these guns that you leave in your car end up in the hands of people in the city of Virginia Beach and outlying communities who should not have them and who are then used in these crimes.

Neudigate revealed that in one in ten car burglaries a gun is stolen.