2 men arrested for kidnapping store manager and stealing more than 120 guns, police say

Published: Nov. 21, 2023 at 4:03 PM EST
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BENTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WNDU/Gray News) - Two men are facing federal charges after police in Michigan said they kidnapped the manager of a sporting goods store, forced him to give them the passcode to the store and then stole more than 120 guns.

In a joint press conference on Tuesday afternoon, officials said the robbery was carried out at the Dunham’s Sports store in Benton Township.

Officials said the Benton Township Police Department received a 911 call from the store manager of the store at around 2 a.m. on Nov. 17. He reportedly told police that two unknown people approached him outside of his home just before 10 p.m. on Nov. 16 and held him at gunpoint. He was then blindfolded, handcuffed and placed in the back of his own car.

The suspects then drove the manager to an unknown area and threatened him with a gun to his head until he gave them the passcode for the security system at the store and told them how to access it.

Dontrell Nance and Darnell Bishop
Dontrell Nance and Darnell Bishop(Berrien County Records)

One of the suspects then stayed with the manager while the other left.

Surveillance video caught the other suspect entering the store at about 10:40 p.m., disabling the alarm system and filling two Yeti coolers with handguns before leaving.

According to officials, 123 handguns in total were missing from the store.

Authorities said they were led to one of the suspects after they allegedly used CashApp to try to send money from the manager’s card to another account. This ultimately led them to the two suspects, who were identified during Tuesday’s press conference as brothers Dontrell Nance and Darnell Bishop.

Nance and Bishop were later taken into custody after police recovered all but one of the 123 stolen guns. Officials said they had a street value approaching $100,000.