Burglars are targeting gun shops in Connecticut, with at least six stores falling victim in recent months.

The thieves had mixed success. In some cases, they couldn't get in. In others, they stole guns that now may be on the streets. More than a dozen are gone.

"There's a rash of them," said Portland police Sgt. Daniel Knapp, who is investigating such an attempted burglary in his town.

The most recent break-in was at Lock N' Load Firearms on Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike in Southington Sunday, when thieves stole 10 guns, one of which police later found in an abandoned getaway car near Interstate 691.

The store's owner, Joshua Serafino, said his shop is one of eight in Connecticut that was targeted, and the fourth that had guns stolen.

Southington police are working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to try to track down the burglars, Lt. Keith Egan said.

That's not the only case ATF is working on.

Knapp said he, too, has been working with the federal agency. Burglars tried to get into a Portland gun shop, Central Connecticut Arms, on April 11, the same night as break-ins at two smoke shops in town during which vaping products were stolen, he said.

Police believe the attempted burglary is connected to the smoke shop break-ins and to at least one other out-of-town gun burglary, Knapp said. The earlier theft happened at Wolf's Indoor Range & Shooting Center, he said.

"Multiple" guns were stolen in that burglary on April 10, Bristol police Lt. Geoffrey Lund said. He wouldn't release the actual number.

As in the Southington case, the Portland burglars' getaway car was found on I-691, which connects Interstate 91 to Interstate 84, and, by extension, Waterbury.

"Right now, it's nothing solid, but we feel there's some kind of Waterbury connection," Knapp said.

About 12:30 a.m on May 11, at least three people broke into Blue Line Tactical Gun Store in Monroe and stole five guns, Lt. Michael Sweeney said Thursday. He said it was not clear whether the theft was related to similar crimes in the state.

Other gun stores that experienced either burglaries or attempts in recent months include The Armory Gun Store of Salem and M-2 Tactical Solutions of Norwalk.

"It happened over a month ago," said a salesman at the Salem store Wednesday. He declined to comment further.

The person who answered the phone at the Norwalk gun shop said a high-quality gate at the store kept the would-be thieves from getting in. But "we don't want to dive into this," he said before hanging up.

It's tough emotionally when burglars steal guns from a store and they end up being used in crimes, said Robert Pizzi Jr., president of the Portland store, Central Connecticut Arms.

He knows because, unlike the recent thieves, two men successfully broke into his store in 2020 and stole 14 guns. As of October 2022, when one of the two, Christopher Matos of New Britain, was sentenced, only three of the guns had been recovered: The FBI found two during a drug investigation, and Waterbury police seized the third when someone fired it into the air during an altercation, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Matos was sentenced to more than eight years in prison and his accomplice, Kenney Cotto, was sentenced to six, the office said.

The possibility that his guns are being used in crimes "keeps me up at night," Pizzi said. "As a responsible gun dealer, the Number One thing that is my biggest fear, is guns ending up in the hands of criminals. When I had the 2020 burglary, I was traumatized."

Pizzi since has fortified his store, and he believes that's what stopped the burglars from getting in this time.

"I have very good security measures," he said.

As for the stores that lost guns, police and ATF agents are working to find them as well as the people who stole them.

They may have a good lead, thanks to a new camera Serafino installed in front of his Southington store four days before the break-in. It captured one of the young thieves pulling down his ski mask while he apparently was talking — and looking right at the camera.

"Sometimes we get lucky," Knapp said.