Thieves take guns, thousands in cash from unlocked cars on Hilton Head over New Year’s
Unlocked cars on Hilton Head Island were open season for thieves over the New Year’s holiday as they made away with several guns and thousands in cash, according to police reports.
At least 16 cars were broken into between Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 across different parts of the island, according to a review of Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office reports.
Eight cars broken into were left unlocked by their owners, the reports showed. Five guns were stolen.
At least $4,620 in cash and checks were taken from wallets left in the cars, the reports show.
“Some of the incidents are believed to be connected,” Maj. Bob Bromage with the Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday. The agency is investigating them as such, he said.
Bromage said the Sheriff’s Office wants to remind residents to keep their firearms, along with other valuables, locked up in their homes, not their cars.
“We recover firearms all the time that have been stolen in vehicles in Beaufort County,” Bromage previously said. “(They’re) oftentimes used in violent crimes and murders.”
A little over 70% of car break-ins on the island that happened between November 2020 and January 2021 involved unlocked cars, according to recent crime statistics.
This story was originally published January 4, 2022 at 4:43 PM.
