NEW CASTLE COUNTY, Delaware (WPVI) — A vehicle believed to be involved in the burglary of a gun store in New Castle County was recovered on Tuesday, directly across the street from the scene of the crime.

The owner of a gun shop spoke to Action News on Tuesday after his store was burglarized.

He says the Monday morning burglary was nothing short of well-planned and brazen.

“Being right on this highway, in a very secure building, and we’ve got New Castle County Police Headquarters three miles north of us, we’ve got Delaware State Police Troop 2 five miles from us. This was absolutely brazen to even attempt this,” said Bob Miller, owner of Miller’s Guns Center in Wilmington Manor, Delaware.

Investigators say the thief started by stealing a flatbed truck from a facility approximately 10 miles away.

A short time later, just before 2 a.m. Monday, the suspect backed the flatbed into the front of the gun store on Route 13.

The shop’s security system notified the police right away, but a witness told authorities what they would be looking for.

“A passerby actually called and said that they saw a flatbed truck backing into the business,” said New Castle County Police Corp. Richard Chambers.

The thief ended up getting away with an undisclosed number of handguns.

In an odd twist, however, a trail of bricks revealed how the suspect fled the scene down Route 13 southbound.

The flatbed was then recovered more than 24 hours later at a dry cleaner, which was right across the street from the gun shop.

Investigators are now going through surveillance video to determine how, and hopefully why, the suspect returned to the scene without being detected.

Meanwhile, Miller says he is eager for investigators to catch the person responsible.

“I just didn’t think anything like that would ever happen to us,” he said. “We’ve got a really, really good security system and we’ve got surveillance.”

“Very brazen to do what he did, and that may be what gets him caught,” Miller added.

Sources close to the investigation tell Action News that at this point, investigators believe only one person was involved in this heist.

Surveillance video of the incident has not been released to the media, but it is being reviewed by several law enforcement agencies, including the ATF, the FBI, and New Castle County police.

Anyone with further information is asked to contact the authorities.

NEW CASTLE, Del. – The investigation into a gun store burglary continues as New Castle police locate a truck in connection to the brazen crime, and suspects remain on the loose.

Millers Gun Center on West Jackson Avenue became the target of thieves when several firearms were stolen early Monday morning.

A witness told 911 that a flatbed truck slammed into the front door of the store while officers were en route to the scene.

They arrived to find the store had been broken into, several firearms had been taken, and the truck was gone.

On Tuesday morning, police say they found the truck behind a business on the 500 block of North Dupont Highway.

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FOX 29 was on the scene as police surrounded the area, which is directly across from the gun shop.

Police have yet to say if any stolen firearms were recovered, or any additional details in connection to the burglary.

The family-owned business has since put up a temporary door where the truck backed into the store.

Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware Counties unveiled a new machine that will turn glass into sand, in turn supplementing a depleting resource and saving hundreds of thousands of pounds of landfill waste.

Three Goodwill stores will now operate a glass pulverizer to recycle donated glass that is deemed unsellable by the stores. The Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County, Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake and the Goodwill of Greater Washington will be the recipients of the company’s new initiative, with grant funding from Truist Bank.

An unveiling event was held May 23 at the Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County located at 400 Centerpoint Blvd. in New Castle.

How does the machine work?

An estimated 350,000 pounds of glass donated to the Goodwill in Delaware makes its way to the landfill at some point.

“In most stores glass is either broken and can’t be reused or didn’t sell in the store,” said Colleen Morrone, CEO of the Goodwill of Delaware and Delaware County. “Previously we put it in the landfill. But now we’re taking glass here and are able to do something else with it.”

The glass pulverizer, aptly named Sandy, is able to implode shards of glass and revert it into soft sand or gravel that can be further repurposed for other uses. The $86,000 machine is able to accept up to 1.5 tons of glass and convert it to its original form.  

Three branches of Goodwill stores received the $1 million grant from Truist Charitable Fund to pay for the machines themselves and for sustainable workforce training. Morrone estimated that around 1,500 employees will be trained in using the pulverizer, while also expanding their general sustainability knowledge.

“We can train all of our workforce in all of our retail stores and operations centers in sustainability issues, how to be better stewards for the environment and teaching how to bring sustainability into the workplace so they can utilize it at work and at home,” Morrone said.

Too much glass, not enough sand

Not everything donated to Goodwill can be resold or reused. In fact, a bulk of Goodwill Delaware’s 550,000 annual donations end up in landfills.

The organization has already begun efforts to reduce textile waste by partnering with the University of Delaware’s Department of Fashion and Apparel Studies to recycle the fibers of unused garments.

Sand is the second-most used natural resource in the world, behind water, according to a UN 2022 report. It’s is also being used at an ever-increasing rate of 6% every year, a rate that could become unsustainable.

For coastal states like Delaware, which is particularly susceptible to sea level rise, sand is heavily used in shoreline restoration projects and erosion control around the coastlines. Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control oversees dozens of projects per year restoring the coastlines with the sand they need to protect nearby infrastructure.

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Multiple dredging projects are also underway to collect sand from the ocean and use it for shoreline control. Morrone hopes that this could be one of the ways the new sand pulverizer machine could be useful to the local community.

“We have a lot of beaches here in Delaware, so we’re looking at all of our opportunities and trying to find the best for us here to make Delawareans feel good about donating to Goodwill,” Morrone said.

The sand and gravel created with the glass pulverizer can also be used for construction, landscaping, mulching and home gardening projects.  

Molly McVety covers community and environmental issues around Delaware. Contact her at mmcvety@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @mollymcvety.