MIRAMAR, Fla. -- Twenty-eight guns were stolen from a pawn shop in West Park during Hurricane Katrina, police said.

All the high-powered rifles that used to hang on the walls of A & B Pawn and Gun in Miramar were missing after the storm Thursday night.

Images: Hurricane Provides Cover For Thieves

Bill Valentine, of A & B Pawn Shop, said the thieves cut the power, leaving security cameras blind.

"I'm assuming they just literally pried the door off the hinges," Valentine said.

Liz Cazadilla, of the Broward Sheriff's Office, said the thieves knew what they were doing.

"They knew exactly what they needed to do to take off with the goods without being caught," Cazadilla said.

Valentine said he believes the thieves, who got away with 28 guns, were "more on the professional than the amateur."

"That is scary, because that kind of stuff on the street in the hands of the wrong people is very scary. You're talking about assault rifles, you're talking about 30-30, .306s, a lot of high-powered cunning rifles," Valentine said.

Committing burglary under cover of a hurricane is not a new idea. Police said a surveillance camera showed some people breaking into a computer storm while Hurricane Frances hit South Florida last year.

This time, however, guns were involved.

"Of course we're very concerned because we have 28 firearms now in the hands of criminals, brazen criminals," Cazadilla said.

Anyone with information should call Broward Crime Stoppers at (954) 493-TIPS.