A man suspected of committing 22 vehicle break-ins in San Francisco was busted and two handguns stolen in the crime wave were recovered from his house, police said Wednesday.

The arrest of Sean Gibson comes as car owners citywide and law enforcement grapple with a nearly 50 percent spike in auto break-ins.

Gibson, 24, was taken into custody on suspicion of 21 counts of auto burglary, one count of attempted burglary, possession of stolen property and possession of burglary tools after police executed a search warrant at his San Francisco home on Oct. 20.

Inside the residence, police found two stolen handguns linked to separate auto burglaries in the city, said San Francisco police Officer Albie Esparza. Detectives are investigating whether the stolen guns had been used in any recent crimes in the Bay Area.

Officials have been working to stem the unprecedented jump in auto burglaries this year in San Francisco, which have resulted in the theft of several firearms that were later used in high-profile killings.

A .40-caliber handgun that was used in the July 1 killing of Kathryn Steinle on Pier 14 had been ripped off from a federal agent’s car in downtown San Francisco four days earlier, police confirmed shortly after the slaying.

This fall, three drifters were arrested and charged with using a stolen gun to murder a young Canadian backpacker in Golden Gate Park on Oct. 3 and gun down a popular yoga instructor on a Marin County hiking trail two days later. The gun used in both slayings had been stolen from a civilian’s vehicle at Fisherman’s Wharf on Oct. 1, police said.

San Francisco saw an alarming 47 percent increase in car break-ins for the first half of the year, according to the most recent property crime statistics released by the Police Department.

Citizens living with break-ins in nearly every neighborhood of the city are boiling with frustration. Streets littered with glass from shattered car windows have become an everyday occurrence as burglars roam the city, striking quickly and often without consequence.

The epidemic has prompted police to assemble an auto-burglary task force while the district attorney’s office has been collaborating more with police officers to strengthen prosecutable auto-crime cases.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky