A 31-year-old Aberdeen man was arrested after police say he stole a firearm from a vehicle outside a local smoke shop earlier in April.
Aberdeen police said officers responded April 14 to The Island Smoke Shop & Lounge after a woman reported her firearm had been stolen from her vehicle in the parking lot.
According to the Aberdeen Police Department, the woman told officers she had reportedly been approached by a man who began talking with her while she stood near her vehicle with the door open. During the encounter, she briefly assisted another person who was having car trouble nearby. When she returned to her vehicle, she discovered her gun was missing.
Officers collected statements and reviewed surveillance video, which police said showed a man identified as Christopher Thompson, 31, of Aberdeen, allegedly reaching inside the woman’s vehicle without permission and removing the firearm.
Police said officers attempted to locate Thompson and recover the weapon but were initially unsuccessful. Warrants were later obtained charging him with felony larceny of a firearm, felony breaking or entering a motor vehicle, felony possession of a firearm by a felon, and felony possession of a stolen firearm.
Thompson was located outside Aberdeen on April 20 and arrested by the Moore County Sheriff’s Office, according to police.
He appeared before a Moore County magistrate and was given a $25,000 secured bond.
All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
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Via Aberdeen Police Department.
