Man, 30, Sent To Prison For 2021 Newington Gun Shop Burglary: Feds

NEWINGTON, CT — A 30-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday to serve five years in prison for his role in a 2021 Newington gun heist in which he drove a vehicle into a gun store there.

Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, said Tuesday that Troy Harris, 30, was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Victor A. Bolden in New Haven to 60 months of imprisonment.

The prison term, she said, is followed by three years of supervised release and the crime is in connection with a Newington gun store burglary in September 2021.

According to court documents and statements made in court, shortly after midnight on Sept. 5, 2021, Harris, who had absconded from state parole, approached a woman in the parking lot of a supermarket in Bristol.

Pointing what appeared to be a handgun at the victim, Harris demanded she leave her car and give him the keys, Avery said.

After the victim complied, Harris threw her to the ground and drove away in her car, she said.

In the early morning hours of Sept. 7, 2021, Harris drove the victim’s car to Hoffman’s “Guns for the Good Guys,” a federal firearms licensee located in Newington, Avery said.

Federal officials said he crashed it through the store’s front entrance and then entered the store, kicked out a display case, and stole five handguns before fleeing the scene on foot.

Avery said he was arrested the next day.

In addition to prison time, Bolden ordered Harris to pay restitution of $36,166.30.

Harris has been detained since his arrest. On July 13, 2023, he pleaded guilty to theft of firearms from a licensee.

State charges against Harris relating to the carjacking are pending and only one of the five stolen firearms has been recovered by law enforcement, Avery said.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Newington and Bristol police departments.

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