WATCH: Thief Snatches Gift Packages From Lincoln Park Condo
(CBS) – Video shows a real-life Grinch taking packages from some Lincoln Park homes.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports on the gift-grabbing investigation.
The thefts happened on the very edge of DePaul's campus, in broad daylight.
Security cameras, both outside the condo building and inside the lobby, captured it all.
The thief cased the joint Saturday and then entered the gate.
"It was something eerie because he knew to come back in here and check this place," Daphne Ortiz says.
The first package he took belonged to Ortiz. Then, when he couldn't fit the bigger box into his bag, he took out a knife, cut it open, and removed her roommate's delivery. The robbery was upsetting, and so was the use of the knife.
"That could have endangered my roommate or anyone else in the building," Ortiz says.
Ortiz distributed fliers and provided video to police. But the hooded intruder seems almost impossible to identify.
"It's just really about raising awareness. It's happening now, and it's happening in this neighborhood, and I'm sure it's happening in other neighborhoods, too," Ortiz says.
There are no locks and buzzers at the building.
The good news, if any: The burglar made off with a modest haul at best--a vanity mirror and several copies of an Oprah self-help book.