Anyone with information on this or any crime, and anyone who can help police locate Richard Allen Etim, is asked to contact the Great Bend Police Department, 792-4120. People may also share information anonymously by calling Crime Stoppers, 792-1300, or the toll-free number, 1-888-305-1300. Tips given through Crime Stoppers may be eligible for cash rewards.
An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for Richard Allen Etim, 21, the Great Bend Police Department’s prime suspect in the theft of 23 guns on Dec. 19.
Police have been looking for Etim since early last week, and at 5 p.m. Tuesday they were successful in securing the warrant for his arrest, Detective Denton Doze said. Etim is a black male with brown hair and brown eyes, who has lived in Great Bend and Ellinwood for some time, and has family in the area.
Officers have been warned to consider him "armed and dangerous," since two rifles and 21 handguns were among the items reportedly stolen from P&S Security. Two people broke a front window to the business at 1705 K-96 to gain entry.
Last week GBPD Chief Dean Akings said loss from the break-in was $13,000. "All of this was video recorded," Akings said in a Crime Stoppers report. "One burglar had a hood on his head and the other a plastic bag."
Doze said Wednesday that fingerprints and other evidence made Etim a suspect. The identity of the second person is not known; that person is "probably a male," Doze said.
On Dec. 23, one week after the P&S burglary, more than 30 guns were reported stolen from Shooting Sports Company, a gun repair shop at 1912 17th St. As in the previous break-in, entry was gained by breaking glass.
The investigation into that case is in the preliminary stages, so at this time it’s unknown whether the two crimes are related, Doze said. "Certainly the MO (method of operation) is the same, but it’s too early to tell," he said.
