ST. LOUIS — Alonzo "Lonnie" Sullivan came home after work in 2018 to find his Jefferson County home trashed.
He darted to where he knew he kept his two firearms – passing open drawers, broken glass and other debris that had been tossed around.
“They were gone,” he recalled.
That day, Sullivan became one of the thousands of gun owners who have had their firearms stolen throughout the St. Louis area. For some victims, like Sullivan, it happened during a home burglary. Others are stolen during car break-ins, robberies, assaults or other crimes.
He filed a police report, hoping someday his guns would be found and returned to him.
If the police find a stolen gun, they are usually returned to their rightful owners, except for about 1,000 guns found in St. Louis City during the past five years.
There, area police departments tell the I-Team letters to the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office asking for guns to be returned have gone unanswered for years, leaving those 1,000 crime victims from St. Louis City, St. Louis County and Jefferson County to wonder when, if ever, they will get their guns back.
Sullivan hopes sharing his story will help crime victims get their guns back.
“The St. Louis Circuit Attorney is either inept in handling citizens' property and getting it back to them in a timely manner or is willfully withholding property that belongs to citizens,” Sullivan said.
Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner responded to the I-Team's request for an interview with a statement, which read: "The Circuit Attorney’s Office is committed to ensuring that any property seized that is connected to a case pursued by the Circuit Attorney is returned in a timely manner. To that end, we are working closely with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to address the issue of requiring approval or input on cases where there’s not a pending or current charge by the Circuit Attorney's Office."
Gardner took office in 2017.
Typically, when another police department finds a stolen gun, it’s because it was used in another crime.
The police departments in the areas where they are found then keep the guns as evidence until their respective prosecutors release them.
The police department that handles the original crime in which the gun was stolen sends paperwork to prosecutors asking for the guns to be returned to their owners.
Sullivan’s guns popped up just months after his house was burglarized.
One was used in a homicide in St. Louis County.
The other was found during an arrest of a drug suspect in St. Louis City.
Six months after his gun was used in a homicide in St. Louis County, a detective called Sullivan.
“It was such a surprise,” Sullivan recalled. “He's like 'The DA's not pressing charges. In that case, you can have your firearm back.'”
Meanwhile, his other gun remained at the St. Louis police department with no return date in sight.
He soon learned he was one of 76 crime victims in Jefferson County waiting to get a gun back from St. Louis.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department Cpl. Charles Wymore oversees the property custody division.
“We've sent many communications back and forth between the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office, and we haven't gotten a lot of responses back,” he said.
Neither has the St. Louis County Police Department. Detectives are waiting on release forms from Gardner’s office on at least 100 guns, according to Sgt. Tracy Panus.
“We have not received any recovered stolen firearms from the St. Louis lab since prior to 2018,” Panus wrote. “This is due to requests/letters sent from St. Louis County Police Department to the Circuit Attorney’s Office which receive no response.
“Each case has had at least one letter sent with several of the cases having had more than one letter sent.”
St. Charles County police are still researching whether they have any stolen guns awaiting return.
St. Louis police are waiting for Gardner’s office to release at least 800 guns to crime victims, according to Sgt. Charles Wall.
“This is an increase which has taken place over the last several years,” Wall wrote.
Just weeks ago, the journey to get Sullivan’s gun back from St. Louis ended.
A representative from Gardner’s office told the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department Sullivan’s gun was in federal custody all along.
Sullivan called the feds. It was released within a few days.
A deputy from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department went to the St. Louis Police Department to get it in January.
Sullivan then made an appointment with the sheriff’s department to get it back. Wymore was there to greet him.
“It makes us feel good to get property back to people,” Wymore told Sullivan as he escorted Sullivan to his car with the gun.
“Definitely,” Sullivan told him.
Sullivan brought the case with him that housed it the day it was stolen.
“Got to wipe the cob webs out of it,” he said, cleaning the case. “I’m just glad mine’s resolved.
“I’m hoping to bring enough attention to this so that maybe all the others can get their property back.”
For more information about how to track down a stolen gun that was found in St. Louis, visit http://www.slmpd.org/property_custody_s.asp.
If you have not received a letter from St. Louis police, and believe the department may have your gun, contact the Property Custody Division at 314-444-5540 or propertycustodyfirearms@slmpd.org.