Thieves Swarm West Side Store In Smash-And-Grab Heist
CHICAGO (CBS) -- After a van smashed through the front of a West Side clothing store early Wednesday, 20 people swarmed inside, stealing tens of thousands of dollars worth of designer jeans in less than three minutes.
CBS 2's Susanna Song reports a van crashed through the glass storefront at Cisco NYC, 4025 W. Madison St., around 4 a.m.
Employees showed off surveillance video that showed four people exit the van, and 16 other people run in from outside, and ransack the store -- targeting mostly designer Robin's brand jeans.
"They purposefully smashed and grabbed, they knew what they were coming to get," one of the store's employees told CBS 2. "There was so much other stuff they could have grabbed, they came directly for these jeans," one of the stores employees old CBS 2."
Some of the thieves were carrying garbage bags, and stole jeans worth up to $750 a pair. The thieves were in and out in approximately 2 1/2 minutes.
"We're not talking about sophisticated burglars," said Chicago Police Sergeant Matthew Little. "They're not defeating alarm systems, they're not defeating video."
Though the crash set off the store's burglar alarm, by the time police officers got to the scene, the burglars already had fled in two getaway vehicles.
Police were not speculating whether the smash-and-grab burglary could be a copycat crime, after a series of similar heists involving cars driven into Luis Vuitton stores in Northbrook and Oak Brook.
"We don't know at this time if these are linked. But we are going to work with the investigators from the other jurisdictions and see if they are in fact connected," Sergeant Little said.
Police are looking into several new postings on social media today, offering Robin's brand jeans for less.