Tallahassee police crack gun heist after suspect shows off stolen pistols on Facebook

Tallahassee police investigating back-to-back burglaries and gun thefts at a pawn shop caught a major break after one of the suspects showed off a couple of the stolen pistols in a live Facebook video.

Investigators later found text messages between the suspect and others discussing plans to break into Tallahassee Gun & Pawn on South Monroe Street, according to court records.

Five people are believed to have burglarized the store twice in the predawn hours of May 31, stealing at least two dozen firearms.

On Friday, Tallahassee police arrested one of the suspects, Amontae Mitchell, on 23 counts of grand theft of a firearm and one count each of burglary and criminal mischief.

Another suspect, Anthony Butler, was arrested on similar charges several days after the burglaries. Both Mitchell, 22, and Butler, 23, are being held in the Leon County Detention Center.

After the burglary, the Tallahassee Police Department got a Crime Stoppers tip about an online "chat" involving the burglary. Investigators turned up a Facebook video posted by Butler with corresponding text saying, "Y'all played them boys hit a pawn shop last night."

Butler went live on Facebook around noon May 31, just hours after the burglaries and before TPD released any information about the crime, according to arrest reports. In the video, he showed off a Glock and a Smith & Wesson before pointing one of the unloaded guns at the camera and pulling the trigger.

When police arrested Butler, on June 3, they found him in possession of the stolen Glock. He was taken to police headquarters, where he waived his right to remain silent and agreed to talk about the burglaries

Butler said he and other suspects talked about robbing the pawn shop in a chat on the GroupMe app labeled "Tallahassee Riots." The conversation happened amid nationwide protests and largely peaceful local demonstrations following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis days earlier.

A search of Butler's phone found texts between him and Mitchell and others talking about robbing some place — possibly Best Buy or a jewelry store — before settling on the pawn shop.

"If you lootin' and not scared of makin' money say 'yo,' " one of the suspects wrote.

Mitchell said the pawn shop was "white owned" and run by people who are "strapped heavy."

"Gotta hit them at night," he texted. "It's easier to rob without a gun fight."

Later, some of the suspects talked about filing serial numbers off the guns they stole and robbing another place for rifles. Butler told police he sold one of the guns via CashApp to someone he met at Cascades Park. 

"Butler was questioned about where the other twenty-two firearms were," the arrest report says, "but he stated he did not know."

TPD officials said after the burglary that they couldn't comment on whether any of the guns were recovered, citing the active and ongoing investigation. It's unclear whether others have been arrested in connection with the crime.

Surveillance video showed "multiple persons" in the shadows outside the pawn shop and a window facing Monroe Street shatter. One suspect jumped the counter, grabbed some guns and handed them off to others through the front door.

The suspects fled but returned within an hour. Video showed one of them smashing a display case inside the store.

"Once the display case is shattered, the suspect is seen reaching into the broken display case and removing pistols," the report says. "Video captures these pistols being passed through the front door and the suspect leaving."

The burglary at the pawn shop marked the second large-scale theft of firearms this year. On April 22, a number of suspects stole more than four dozen firearms, mostly pistols, from Kevin's Guns & Sporting Goods on Capital Circle Northeast.

Authorities in Georgia, working with TPD, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and U.S. Marshals, arrested a number of people, including juveniles, in that case. One of the guns was linked to a murder in Albany, Georgia.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.

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