BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Thieves used a pickup truck to smash into a Big 5 Sporting Good Store Tuesday morning.

Big 5 employees spent most of the morning cleaning up the mess burglars left behind.

Wyona Sherrell, a customer of Big 5, said, “Well somebody was trying to make it a drive-through. All the restaurants have a drive-through, so they just thought Big 5 needed a drive through too."

Police said the culprits had a more criminal motive around 3 a.m. when the thieves drove a stolen 2010 Toyota Tundra pickup truck through the front of the Big 5 sporting goods store at the East Hills Mall.

William Crowles Sr., a customer, said, “Things are changing so fast in our economy. For them to do this is really out of sight."

After smashing their pickup truck into the store, the thieves got out and headed straight for the firearms section, stealing eight rifles and pellet guns within minutes, the Bakersfield Police Department reported.

Crowles said, "Evidently they took a bunch of guns and we sure don't need that on the streets."

Mary Degeare of the BPD said, "It’s hard to say where the weapons are going. Stolen firearms are very valuable to people on the street that can't access them legally through legal channels. They could be going to gangsters or Mexico. We don't know."

The thieves made off with the firearms but left behind the truck, in the parking lot, police said.

This isn't the first time burglars have crashed and grabbed this year. In June, the Ole Boy Outdoors store was burglarized the same way. The store had $8,000 worth of handguns stolen, police said.

Degeare said, "We'll look into that to see if those two offenses are connected."

Meanwhile the BPD is currently in the process of looking at surveillance footage to identify the crooks.

Anyone with information on this burglary is urged to call BPD at 327-7111.