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GRANGER — Wearing dark clothes, a ski mask, knee pads, and a fanny pack filled with dog biscuits and a variety of tools, a convicted murderer with a history of robbing gun stores tried to break into a Granger gun shop early Monday morning, a federal criminal complaint alleges.

Equipped with everything he would need to break into the gun store — the dog biscuits were to appease dogs he might encounter on the property — David Landrum, 45, tried to burglarize Granger Guns on Bittersweet Road to feed an addiction to guns, he told police.

Landrum is charged in a federal criminal complaint filed Tuesday of being a felon in possession of a handgun after his arrest Monday.

A spokeswoman for the St. Joseph County prosecutor’s office said the state is consulting with the U.S. attorney to determine whether additional charges should be filed in state court.

The alleged gun store theft is not Landrum’s first: When he was 15, he was sent to Indiana Boys School in 1984 for a juvenile conviction of breaking into a Mishawaka gun shop by cutting a hole in the roof.

Four years later in 1987, the 19-year-old Landrum, along with an accomplice, was charged with murder, conspiracy and robbery in the shooting death of a Mishawaka gun store owner during a robbery.

Landrum pleaded guilty in 1988 to murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the shooting of Burl Thacker, the 71-year-old owner of Thacker’s GunShop. He was sentenced to 54 years in prison and has since been released.

St. Joseph County Police responded to a burglary call at Granger Guns early in the morning and found Landrum nearby, armed with an ice pick, glass and box cutters, a flashlight, pliers and two magazines loaded with ammunition, according to the complaint.

Landrum’s car was stocked with bolt cutters, a pry bar, a hammer, a cutting torch and cardboard, the complaint said.

Upon questioning, he told police he did not like the direction the country was going and asked an officer if he would ever shoot into an unarmed crowd, the document alleges.

He said that as a convicted felon, he is not allowed to buy firearms but needs them to protect his family, the complaint says.

Later, the complaint says, he admitted to police that he was trying to break into the gun store, hoping to snag a Desert Eagle .50-caliber handgun and a Remington handgun, which would fit the magazines he already had.

He explained to police his plot to break into the store, a detailed plan that involved using the torch to cut glass, pliers on the padlocks and drilling holes in the drywall (though he had forgotten the drill). He was going to quiet dogs sometimes on the property with the biscuits.

Landrum further explained he has an addiction to guns and needs them to feel safe, according to the complaint.

Since his release from prison two years ago, he satisfied his addiction by cleaning the firearms of others, he told police.

Landrum said he believes the government is trying to disarm the population so it can “herd” citizens into Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers. He said he needs a gun to protect his family.

Landrum also told detectives it was a good thing police stopped him because he doesn’t know what would have happened if he came out of the store with a loaded firearm, the complaint says.

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