CHICAGO (CBS) – A big mess was caused by a group of thieves who targeted ATMs by breaking windows to get inside businesses.
They’ve tried it three times, hitting one business twice in River North. On Thursday, the crew slammed an SUV into the store.
CBS 2’s Shardaa Gray spoke to the owner who watched it all unfold from her home.
For the fourth time, Galleria Market was cleaning up glass and boarding up their entrance. The River North building at 340 W. Superior St. had major damage in yet another crash-and-grab burglary in Chicago.
Riya Patel owns the store. She got a security alert about the burglary and saw the would-be thieves in real-time.
“We turn on the cameras from home and all we can see is a black Jeep trying to ram their car to get into my store,” Patel said.
Police said a group of people crashed the SUV into the store. They tried to steal the ATM but failed, leaving it on the sidewalk. Patel said she watched helplessly from her home.
“The ATM, they wanted to get into, but they also have a bitcoin inside,” she said. “So that, but we couldn’t tell because they also could have wanted to get liquor.”
The suspects then took off, along with people waiting in other vehicles.
“It’s sad that the city has come to this point,” Patel said.
She said the structural damage done to her store will cost more than $20,000, which wasn’t even the first time it’s been hit.
“We got looted twice during the lootings,” Patel said. “We got robbed two weeks ago. Same thing, they tried to break through the windows. We got that repaired, and this morning, this is what happens.”
Patel is questioning if she wants to stay in River North.
“We don’t know if we can continue business in the City of Chicago if this continues because every other time this happened, not a single solution has come out from it,” she said.
