Van Filled With Dogs Was Unattended Before Theft: Surveillance Video
(CBS) – A doggy daycare van with seven canines was stolen after the driver left the vehicle running and unattended – not during an armed carjacking, as previously reported -- according to surveillance video released Thursday evening.
The Wednesday afternoon theft of the minivan happens almost in a flash, as two suspects get in the apparently unlocked vehicle and drive it away.
The video was distributed to the media after the cold but alive dogs were recovered Thursday morning in the 2100 block of South Wabash Street.
The footage seems to contradict initial reports that a driver for Urban Out Sitters was approached by two armed men who stole the minivan at gunpoint near Ogden and Grand avenues as the employee was driving the dogs home.
Police say a "male witness" attempted to stop the vehicle but was deterred when one of the suspects flashed a gun at him. The surveillance video released Thursday does not show this confrontation.
The owners of two of the rescued dogs watched the surveillance video with CBS 2.
Douglas and Allison Rodriguez say they expected to see the driver chased from the van at gunpoint by the two thieves. That was the story they believed until watching the video.
"This is absolutely different from what we thought," Allison Rodriguez said.
Authorities ask anyone with information about the two suspects to call police at 9-1-1.