KTLA

LAPD concerned after guns among items stolen from trains in Lincoln Heights

Debris litters Union Pacific train tracks in Lincoln Heights, where thieves stole items from rail cargo containers.(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)

Guns are among the items that have been stolen from cargo containers on railroad tracks in Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said Monday.

“People were … breaking into these containers and stealing firearms, tens of firearms,” Moore told the Police Commission. “That gave us the great concern as a source again of further violence in the city as people were capitalizing on the transport of these containers with having little or no policing or security services there.”

Moore said that on Thursday, the day Gov. Gavin Newsom showed up to help bag debris and decry the thefts, the LAPD arrested six people who had been under surveillance for crimes related to the train break-ins.

The issue gained national attention earlier this month as images of the debris left on the Union Pacific tracks by thieves went viral. But that did not stop the stealing, Moore said.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.