Beckham County, OK — Beckham County Sheriff Derek Manning is reminding residents to lock their vehicles and remove valuables after a pistol was recently stolen from a rural area.

“In this part of the country, and we're all guilty of it, people leave tools, weapons, all kinds of stuff in their vehicles, especially pickups,” Manning said. “But we had at least one firearm stolen out in the rural area this week.”

Manning said details of the incident are still being gathered, including whether the suspect broke into the vehicle or simply opened an unlocked door. Either way, he said it’s a good time to be vigilant.

“Just a reminder to folks that there are people out there driving around,” he said. “If you have vehicles that are kind of sitting in an exposed area, they're not locked in a garage or something, take some extra time to make sure you've got the valuable stuff out that you would mind if somebody took.”

Manning shared a personal example, noting that while he doesn’t mind losing a basic tool, he takes extra care with sentimental items.

“I try not to leave what I call ‘legacy tools’ in there—things that my grandpa had or my dad had,” he said. “I try not to leave them in unlocked compartments. I've got locked toolboxes and things like that that I can secure them in.”

With warm weather making it easier for would-be thieves to scout for easy targets, the sheriff said residents should think twice about what they leave in their vehicles.

“It's nice weather. Nobody's scared to be out in this kind of weather. So they're out looking around for opportunities,” Manning said.