Thieves Target Unlocked Cars At Kenwood Gas Station 4 Times In 2 Days
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Police were investigating a rash of thefts from unlocked vehicles at a gas station on the South Side.
There have been four thefts in two days at the BP station at 47th and Woodlawn in Kenwood.
• At 10:05 a.m. Wednesday, a 33-year-old man was pumping gas when someone distracted him as another man opened his car door, stole the keys, and a bag.
• At 1:20 p.m. Wednesday, a thief stole a 40-year-old woman's wallet from the front seat of her car while she was at the gas station.
• At 10:30 a.m. Thursday, a 71-year-old woman went into the gas station, and a person stole her purse from her unlocked car.
• At 7:50 p.m. Thursday, a young man opened a 49-year-old woman's passenger door while she was on the driver's side pumping gas, and took her purse.
In each case, the victims' vehicles were left unlocked. The latest crime was caught on surveillance video.
Thursday night, a woman pulled up to one of the pumps to gas up.
While she was standing next to her vehicle, a white SUV pulled up next to her. A person got out of the SUV, opened the woman's passenger side door, took her purse, and got back into the SUV.
The woman ran after the SUV, and grabbed the door, but fell down as the thief's vehicle sped away.
Customers at the BP station were shocked to learn there have been four thefts there since Wednesday.
"I'm concerned, yeah, because I usually come to this gas station all the time. So that's very concerning," Lisa McMiller said.
McMiller said she locks her car whenever she pumps gas.
"I'm just a city girl, so I always do it," she said.
Gas station cashier Arun Palmar said it's sad to see a rash of thefts in what is otherwise a good neighborhood.
"My boss tells me from 17 years, he's been good," he said.
Palmar suggested drivers shut off their cars and lock their doors when they stop at the gas station, no matter how cold it is, or how quick they think they will be.
