JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A thief was caught on camera breaking into a Westside family's car last week and stealing a handgun.
It happened Dec. 8 at a home on Fouraker Road near Wilson Boulevard.
So far, no one's been arrested.
The video shows a man in a hoodie, holding Ivan Catalan's .40-caliber handgun, stolen out of Catalan's pickup truck that was parked in front of his Westside home.
The theft happened around 4 a.m.
In the video, the thief can been seen casing the area, then hopping a fence. The man opens the door of the truck and uses some sort of flashlight to go through the inside. He takes his time, casually spending more than 10 minutes rifling through the vehicle. Then he grabs the loaded gun and bullets, walks around with the weapon and holds it for the camera to see.
Minutes later, the man can be seen across the street, jiggling neighbors' vehicle door handles. Luckily, they were locked.
“It is scary. You have a hard time sleeping at night,” Ivan's wife, Cindy Catalan said.
She said she's also concerned that the bad guy is now armed.
“I am just afraid that now that they have the gun, that they are going to hurt an innocent person on the street or come back and hurt us,” Cindy Catalan said.
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office records show that from Jan. 1 to November, about 260 guns have been reported stolen in town.
The Catalan family's yard is fenced in and has several signs that are supposed to keep crooks away. One says they are armed, and another says that security cameras are in use.
On the opposite side of the yard is a neighborhood watch poster and First Coast Crime Stoppers sign. But none of that stopped the thief.
Ivan Catalan admitted that he made a mistake. He was so busy that night that he forgot to lock his truck and bring his valuables inside.
“Every other car and the house were locked,” he said. “That was the only time that I left it open."
News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said that's costly because so many weapons that are stolen locally come from unlocked vehicles.
“First thing you do is take all of your valuables out of the car, weapons or anything, then lock your car,” Smith said. “Then you come back and check it. Check the doors and make sure he can't see anything from outside.”
The Catalans are worried that the gun could be used for more crimes. But their biggest fear?
“That he is going to come back in my house and kill somebody, just to get something that is just materials,” Ivan Catalan said. “I can replace something that is just materials, but I can't replace somebody's life.”
The family asks anyone with information about the theft to call police.
Officers are continuing to patrol the area. According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office crime map, 177 burglaries have been reported within a mile radius of the family's home since the beginning of the year. Of those, 96 were auto burglaries.