Shot by Burglars Four Years Ago, Tucson Gun Shop Owner Now Parks His Pickup Across His Storefront Every Night After Thieves Ram Two Nearby Gun Stores in One Week

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TUCSON, AZ — A Tucson gun shop owner who still carries a bullet in his body from a break-in four years ago is now parking his pickup truck across the front of his store every night, after thieves rammed vehicles through the storefronts of two other Pima County gun shops in a single week.

John Petrush owns John’s Guns and Ammo near Broadway Boulevard and Camino Seco, as reported by KVOA. One of the two stores hit this week, Elite Guns and Ammo, sits just feet from his shop. The other was SNG Tactical. In both cases, investigators said the suspects used a vehicle to ram the front of the business and get inside.

Petrush told the station a Tucson Police officer suggested the truck. He now parks it parallel to the storefront each night. He said the measure gives him some peace of mind, but he was quick to qualify that.

“It does but knowing they didn’t use a vehicle the first time they robbed me, there’s still open areas,” Petrush said.

That first time was four years ago. Armed suspects broke into his store and shot him. A bullet remains inside his body. He said detectives never notified him whether anyone was ever found for that case.

I would not blame a man who has already been shot inside his own business for being rattled. What Petrush is doing instead is layering. He was already putting his inventory away every night before this week and already making customers call ahead or ring a doorbell to get in. The shop has several security cameras. Now he adds a truck against the glass, stops leaving notes on the door saying he is away, and takes a harder look at who he lets inside. The truck answers the ram threat. It does not close every gap, and he said as much. There is a better answer to the ram threat, and I am sure plenty of gun stores have already landed on it. A shop near me in Mandeville, Louisiana, dealt with this during COVID and installed concrete culverts across the front of the store. They are still there, and nothing is driving through them. That beats tying up your own truck every night as a barricade. None of that is a knock on Petrush. You do what you have to do to protect your business and your livelihood from thieves who just want to take it away. That is the right mindset: name the threat you just watched hit your neighbors, counter it, and keep looking for the next one.

The ram-raid at Elite Guns and Ammo happened Oct. 5 and the thieves took multiple firearms, according to The Western Journal, citing KVOA. Owner Aaron Herman told the station he is “done.”

“I’d love to get rid of all of it and probably try to go out of business before the year’s out,” Herman said.

The Western Journal also reported statements the National Shooting Sports Foundation and ATF gave the Daily Caller News Foundation on the pattern. NSSF’s Mark Oliva said the crews are “determined, often stealing cars, trucks or vans to literally smash through the side of a building” and are gone “in a matter of seconds to minutes, before law enforcement can respond to alarms.” ATF’s Justin Ward said the agency continues to see “ram-raids,” smash-and-grabs, and stolen vehicles used against licensed dealers, and that the stolen guns “often move quickly into criminal markets.” Per ATF data cited in the same report, licensed dealers suffered 181 burglaries, 531 larcenies, and 26 robberies in 2025, with 3,163 firearms stolen.

Every one of those guns ends up in hands that skipped the background check. That is the stake for a shop owner like Petrush beyond his own inventory, and it is why the alarm-response window Oliva described matters. A crew that is in and out in minutes beats the fastest patrol car. The only thing on scene at 3 a.m. is whatever the owner left there.

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The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said detectives are investigating whether the two burglaries are linked, but deputies had no update Friday. No suspect information has been released in either case, and there has been no official confirmation that the two are connected.

Petrush expects that to change. “They’re always going to slip somewhere, whether it be a camera that catches them or just somebody walking by that’s seen something,” he said. “And if they come and say something, the likelihood is more so of them getting caught.”

Read the original story: Shot by Burglars Four Years Ago, Tucson Gun Shop Owner Now Parks His Pickup Across His Storefront Every Night After Thieves Ram Two Nearby Gun Stores in One Week