Athens police have gotten a break in a vehicle break-in that may be linked to the theft of the Limestone County district attorney’s AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.

Early Monday morning, someone broke the rear window of District Attorney Brian Jones’ SUV while it was parked at his home in east Athen. The thief, or thieves, stole an AR-15 from inside the locked vehicle, Jones said.

Police Chief Floyd Johnson said Wednesday there were three other vehicles broken into in Athens late Sunday night, all of which may be linked. In one of those break-ins, another semiautomatic rifle and two pistols were stolen. In another, a purse containing several debit cards was stolen. One of those cards was then used at a gas station in Jefferson County, the chief said.

“Yesterday, we had one of our investigators in Jefferson County following up with the store,” Johnson said. “We were able to recover some video. We’re following up with law enforcement in that area to attempt and develop leads in the case.”

Video

On the night of the break-ins, a video-surveillance system belonging to a neighbor of one of the victims captured an image of a vehicle, but Johnson said the vehicle’s color and make have not yet been determined.

“I hope to have more in the future,” he said.

The chief believes there is a good possibility the break-ins are related but he cannot be sure at this point.

“We’re not sure the person who broke into the cars and the person with the card is the same person; were keeping an open mind on that,” Johnson said.

Resident are asked to telephone police at 256-233-8700 if they saw anything late Sunday night or early Monday morning in connection with the other three break-ins:

• 22600 block of Oakdale Ridge Lane where someone stole a Smith & Wesson AR-10 .308-caliber semiautomatic rifle, a Ruger .380-caliber pistol, a Springfield XDS .45-caliber pistol and a Zeiss scope, total $3,160;

• 300 block of Plantation Way where someone stole a Tory Burch purse containing two debit cards, a department store card and medication, total $925; and

• 400 block of East Brookwood Drive where $15 in change was stolen.

Weapons

As in any case where weapons are stolen, Athens police reported them stolen to other agencies.

“All the weapons have been entered as stolen in the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) database,” Johnson said. “If an officer locates the guns and checks, there will be a instant notification that they are stolen weapons. We have also notified all law enforcement agency’s in our area about the thefts.”

He said that while his staff does a good job in recovering stolen weapons, he could not give a percentage of their success rate.