NORFOLK, Va. — An 18-year-old Bayside High School student brought a loaded gun to school this week that police say was stolen out of Chesapeake.
The Chesapeake Police Department said they are still working to learn the origins of where that gun was stolen in their city.
What is known, and can be proven by data, is that thieves these days are frequently stealing guns from vehicles.
In Chesapeake, 155 of the 290 guns stolen in 2022 were taken from cars.
Everytown for Gun Safety, a group working to stop gun violence, released a report that took a closer look at the issue and found that gun thefts from cars are on the rise.
Researchers found Portsmouth had the 10th worst rate in the nation in 2020.
Data from the FBI in 2020 shows 941 total guns stolen from vehicles across the seven cities of Hampton Roads.
More than half of those were stolen in either Virginia Beach or Norfolk.
Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate tweeted this week: "Did you know that for every ten cars broken into in @CItyofVaBeach, thieves also end up with one gun for their criminal efforts? This 10% is placing hundreds of guns in the wrong hands! Please don't leave guns unsecured in your vehicles."
Norfolk Interim Police Chief Michael Goldsmith echoed that plea when he presented year-end crime statistics before City Council.
“Lock your property up, do not leave your property in your car, do not leave your firearms in your car, don’t leave things of value where somebody can walk by, break a window, open an unlocked door and then take things," Goldsmith said.