Whoever Broke Into Chris Cooley's Art Gallery Did Not Care Much For The Art

Local police in Leesburg, Va. are searching for the suspect that broke into Chris Cooley's art gallery on South King Street early Friday morning. Thankfully, no art or pottery was stolen in the burglary. More importantly, though, Chris Cooley owns an art gallery.

But it turns out that the Redskins tight end is that one jock from your college ceramics course who actually took himself seriously: He's been throwing clay (is that the term?) since high school in Powell, Wyo. and was an art major at Utah State. He told Mike Wise of the Washington Post that he really started to pursue pottery after breaking his ankle during the 2009 season, and in November 2010, he and his wife Christy decided to open the Cooley Gallery.

Things were going well—he had a side hustle in which he bought his own jerseys at a discount, autographed them, and resold them at the store—until last night's break-in, when an intruder smashed a window and escaped with the cash register:

Cooley said a window was smashed and the register was stolen from the gallery, located at 12 South King Street in downtown Leesburg. Police were called to the scene just after 7:30 a.m. when someone noticed the smashed window.

There is one silver lining, of a sort:

Cooley does not believe any of the store's art or pottery was stolen.

Cooley Gallery Window Smashed, Register Swiped [NBC Washington] Chris Cooley keeps fire burning during NFL lockout [Washington Post]