At least 12 businesses targeted in break-ins, largely on Chicago's North Side
CHICAGO (CBS) -- At least a dozen businesses were left to clean up the mess after an overnight spree of break-ins – most of them on the city's North Side.
The break-ins happened within a period of four hours late Monday night into early Tuesday morning. All the businesses that were targeted had doors or windows smashed, and a few cash registers were missing.
The thieves left the Market Square frozen yogurt shop, at 4701 N. Lincoln Ave. across from the Western Avenue Brown Line stop, in a shambles just after midnight. The front window was shattered, and glass was left everywhere.
"It's different when you're affecting small, family-owned businesses," said Cenk Duman, who owns the shop.
Duman showed CBS 2's Marissa Perlman surveillance video of five suspects as they jumped out of a car, and run to the front and side of the store. One of the suspects throws a cinderblock through the front window, and gets inside.
That suspect jumps over the front counter and starts kicking the register, eventually breaking it free and just taking off with it.
"They just took that front drawer and hit it," said Duman.
The suspects in that case only ended up making off with a couple hundred bucks in cash. But it was the damage to the window and the cash register – and having to shut down the business for days – that makes the most impact on the small business.
"None of these businesses deserve the hell that we're going through right now," said Duman.
Market Square was one of at least a dozen businesses – most on the North Side, but some also on the South – hit in that four-hour sweep. Many of them were local bars, coffee shops, and restaurants.
Surveillance video showed what happened inside Gannon's, about half a mile away at 4264 N. Lincoln Ave. Around 3 a.m. Tuesday, a group of masked men are seeing entering after breaking through the front door.
The owner's husband said it all happened in 30 seconds or less.
"They just threw a brick through the window and jumped over the bar, and rifle through a bunch of drawers, and threw some stuff on the floor – and then left," Gilner told CBS 2's Darius Johnson. "So really, they just broke the window."
There was also damage to a Gil & Gil Real Estate office next door. The window was shattered, and a filing cabinet was spotted outside the business, police said.
"By the time I got here, the police were already here – and we just started looking at the video and seeing exactly what happened," Gilner said. "So they hit three places on this corner, and I guess six other places up and down Lincoln."
The following locations were also among the dozen businesses targeted.
- Mangi's Fast Foods, 3801 N. Lincoln Ave.
- ROCKS Northcenter, 4138 N. Lincoln Ave.
- Wild Goose Bar & Grill, 4265 N. Lincoln Ave.
- Gannon's Pub, 4264 N. Lincoln Ave.
- The Bad Apple, 4300 N. Lincoln Ave.
Also targeted were a coffee shop in the 2200 block of West Wilson Avenue – where the window was shattered and the cash register was found open – and a restaurant in the 3000 block of North Ashland Avenue, where the front glass door was damaged, but the burglars apparently never made it inside.
On the South and Southwest sides, a restaurant in the 3400 block of South Archer Avenue in McKinley Park was targeted – police found a glass door shattered. Also targeted was a restaurant in the 300 block of West 31st Street, where a glass door was also shattered and cash registers were missing.
Afterward, at least two people were taken into custody after a crash in McKinley Park. We are told the suspects who were apprehended were in a stolen Kia, and crashed into another car before trying to take off on foot.
Police late Tuesday were not confirming whether the arrests were connected to the break-ins.