Authorities: Deputies seize thousands of guns at South Carolina home, most

Over 7000 guns have been seized from a house and warehouse in South Carolina and many are thought to have been stolen, according to police.

“There’s like 150 chainsaws, probably 250 to 300 taxidermy mounts, somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 stolen weapons”, Brooks said.

The discovery was made when deputies arrived at Nicholson’s house Friday about 3 p.m.to serve a subpoena for an unrelated matter, Brooks said. Authorities say a man living there had been arrested previously on drug charges in North Carolina and faces charges related to stolen property.

Chesterfield County Sheriff Jay Brooks says the seized guns, ammunition, and taxidermy equipment were all found on a single property off of Highway 9 outside of Pageland city limits. “They secured the scene and called everybody in”. They believe they are all stolen from area counties. Brooks says 20 agents will be sifting through the evidence “piece by piece” starting Monday.

Police said they wrote out the reports for the stolen property just days before.

The sheriff said Nicholson may have stolen a few of the merchandise, but he likely bought most of it from other thieves. Authorities in Anson, Richmond, and Union Counties have been assisting with the investigation, as well as officials from the ATF and SLED.

“His name always popped up regarding stolen property and we finally got enough info for a search warrant”, Brooks said.

“There were five sheriffs standing around – all of us with at least 25 years of experience – and none of us have ever seen anything like this”, Brooks said.