A thief working a Malden parking garage figured out quite a puzzle: how to steal a rifle secured in a mount of a locked State Police cruiser.

A State Police spokesman confirmed that a rifle was stolen from one of the force’s cruisers sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning and that an investigation into the burglary is ongoing.

What the agency will say is that its preliminary investigation indicates that the burglar entered the vehicle by force before stealing a department-issued patrol rifle that was “secured in a mount.”

“At this time we have no indication of the rifle being used subsequent to its theft,” MSP spokesman Dave Procopio wrote in a statement.