Lake Street store cuts replica gun sales

Star Tribune

Last update: November 11, 2008 - 8:09 PM

A south Minneapolis Kmart has pulled replica guns from its shelves after police asked the store to stop selling them.

Minneapolis police Lt. David Hayhoe sent a letter to the store manager of the Kmart on Lake Street requesting the action after investigators caught a juvenile gang member who had used a forged ID to buy a replica gun from the store at 10 W. Lake St.

The juvenile had bought the replica because of "an ongoing feud with a rival gang," and tried to ditch it by throwing it under a vehicle when police responded to an incident Oct. 24 near a northeast Minneapolis school.

Police found the receipt and traced the sale back to the Lake Street store, Hayhoe wrote.

Hayhoe made the request as police are becoming increasingly concerned over the number of crimes in which toy, pellet or BB guns are being used.

So far in 2008, police have recorded 181 cases in Minneapolis in which guns that have the appearance of real firearms have been used in a crime. There have been 21 robberies and 10 aggravated assaults in Minneapolis in which one of the facsimile weapons have been used, Hayhoe said.

A Minneapolis city ordinance passed last year prohibits the carrying of a replica weapon in public.

A spokeswoman for Kmart said the store has complied with the request. But Kmart said it has no plans to curtail toy, pellet or BB gun sales at its other Twin Cities stores.

TIM HARLOW