A Minneapolis police officer reported that his service handgun, ammunition, uniform and other items were stolen from his locked personal vehicle more than two weeks ago and have yet to be recovered, according to a court document and a police spokeswoman.
The pickup truck, owned by officer Bryan Castle, was broken into on the afternoon of Nov. 26 while he was off-duty and in the Walgreens store on Ford Parkway in St. Paul, according to a police application for approval to search a suspect's home.
"He didn't lose track of his weapon, someone broke in [to his pickup]," police spokeswoman Cyndi Barrington said Friday. "He didn't do anything wrong."
Later on the day of the break-in, police in Minneapolis spotted a different vehicle that had been reported stolen from Hopkins and that was traveling near 10th Avenue S. and E. 21st Street, the court records added.
That vehicle was pulled over, and a suspected 17-year-old gang member behind the wheel was arrested, the search application said.
Papers related to Castle's work were recovered from the vehicle, but many other items that were in a duffel bag and taken from Castle's pickup have yet to be found, even after the teenager's Minneapolis home and garage were searched.
Among the items still missing are Castle's .45-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun; a police uniform shirt, pants and turtleneck; three .45-caliber ammunition magazines; and a plastic bag with 37 rounds of .45-caliber ammunition.
The teenager admitted that he knew he was driving a stolen vehicle, the court document continued. When questioned by police about the officer's missing items, he "became very nervous" and would not address the stolen police equipment, the application added.
