A North Canterbury family fears they’re being targeted after a group of thieves allegedly stole 12 firearms and 2000 rounds of ammunition from their home.
Days later, their French Bulldog was taken.
John Te Amo told 1News that a gun cabinet was taken while another was smashed open just after Christmas.
They were also robbed of a safe – containing jewellery, passports, money, and gun registrations – that had been bolted to a wall inside a hallway cupboard, he said.
His 1991 Mercury Capri vehicle was also taken.
“It pisses me right off because I’m 100% sure – well, 90% sure – I know who’s behind it and it will come out,” Te Amo said.
Worried about where the firearms might end up, Te Amo and his wife went to stay at a safe house for 24 hours.
His daughter Lena Mercer, her family, and their dogs also stayed at the house.
But the following morning, one of their dogs – four-year-old French Bulldog Cooper – went outside and never came back.
“It was at that point, in the morning, that Cooper has been taken from that address,” Mercer said in a video she posted online.
Mercer has since offered a $5000 reward as she pleaded for his safe return.
“We’ve had enough to deal with and we don’t know where else to turn so please, if you have him, please come forward. There will be no questions asked,” she said.
Police have no leads on where the beloved family dog might be and have asked for the public’s help locating Cooper.
A police spokesperson said the burglary remains under investigation.
Te Amo said officers had collected a DNA sample from the gun cabinet.
