Chicago police seek suspects in 3 South Side business burglaries
CHICAGO (CBS) — Chicago Police on Friday were searching for the suspects in connection to three business burglaries on the city's South Side—and warning the public about them.
The burglaries happened in the Calumet Heights/South Deering, Washington Heights, and South Shore neighborhoods.
In one of the burglaries--which happened at 3:20 a.m. Thursday, May 23, in a convenience store in the 2300 block of East 95th Street—the crew used kitchen knives and tools to bust through the roof and break in—coming down through the ceiling and leaving the tiles in pieces on the floor. The damage will cost thousands in repairs.
But the damage to the ceiling tiles and the hole in the roof was just a drop in the bucket when it comes to all the costs of the burglary.
The manager of the East 95th Street store didn't want to go on camera, but said he has never seen anything like what happened to his business.
Surveillance video shows the burglars brought a ladder with them. Video taken inside the store shows the crew scaling that ladder to clear out money from lottery sales and the ATM.
CBS 2 is told the burglars got away with almost $20,000—and that was outside the damage to the store.
Thankfully, the roof repair happened fast. But the old, broken ATM was still in the back waiting to be taken away.
The same crew was behind at least two more burglaries. One occurred at 2:22 a.m. Wednesday, June 5, in the 1100 block of West 95th Street, and another at 3:50 a.m. Tuesday, June 11, in the 7500 block of South Exchange Avenue.
Calumet Area detectives are investigating the burglaries, and they shared video from the other two locations. Police said they got away with cash each time.
Police would not say if the burglars broke through the ceiling in the other stores.
Meanwhile, the manager at the East 95th Street store hopes police find the burglars soon.
With these break-ins happening more and more often, a closer look at city crime data show burglaries are right around where they were last year in Chicago. But numbers are higher now, year to date, than in 2021 or 2022.
Anyone with information about the burglaries is asked to call Calumet Area detectives at (312) 747-8273. anonymous tips can be submitted to cpdtip.com.
