Smash & Grab Thieves Hit Louis Vuitton Shop, Crash Into Uber On Getaway
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Thieves made off with more than two dozen designer handbags from the Louis Vuitton store on the Magnificent Mile early Monday, after smashing through the front doors.
Police said, shortly after midnight, a stolen BMW crashed through the entrance of the store at 919 N. Michigan Av.
Five men grabbed several luxury handbags from the store and got back into the BMW to make a getaway, but crashed into an Uber Pool car, with a driver and two passengers inside.
"We got stopped at a red light, and that BMW just smashed us from the side. They had smashed into the Louis Vuitton store already, and we saw a whole bunch of people get out of the car, and they ran into the store, and grabbed a bunch of purses, and took off in a Jeep," said one of the Uber passengers, Nick.
The suspects couldn't restart the BMW after crashing into the Uber, so they piled into a Jeep, and took off with the stolen merchandise.
Police later found a Jeep ditched on the South Side near 57th and Green, but it was not immediately clear if it was connected to the burglary.
No one was in custody early Monday.
Sources said the thieves got away with more than two dozen handbags, potentially worth tens of thousands of dollars combined.
The retailer issued this statement about the theft: "On April 23rd there was an incident at our Michigan Avenue store in Chicago. We are cooperating with local authorities and directing all questions to them during their ongoing investigation."
