Roof Break-In Leaves Family Business Owners Stunned
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A large hole cut into the roof of a business was how police said someone managed to get inside early Monday morning to steal lottery tickets, cigarettes and money.
The family business at 1280 SW 1st Street was ransacked.
Police are not sure how many people were involved in the break-in.
"We're not sure if we have one, two or three criminals here," said Miami Police spokesman, Sgt. Freddie Cruz.
"They just got in through the roof, took scratch-off tickets, money and cigarettes, but worst of all they messed up the whole place," said owner Rita Garcia. "It hurts me, but you have to keep on going, you have no other choice, it shows the lengths people will go to do something like this, but there is a God up there and I hope they catch that person."
"They took a limited amount of tickets and they all have numbers on them and that's been reported to the state," said Miami police spokesman, Sgt. Freddie Cruz. "Now we have some business owners who have been hit hard and they may be closed for at least two or three days. That's why we need the community to come forward and help out in this case."
Police said the subject got out through a storage unit connected to a church, Jesus Amor Eterno, next door.
There are a number of surveillance cameras inside and outside the church. But as of late Monday afternoon, it was not known if the criminals were captured on tape.
Garcia hopes the community can help her family recover from the loss.
"We just hope someone can help us, we work hard, we're a small business, we're trying to pick up but we can't, so if someone is there and can help we would really appreciate it if they would call police," added Garcia. "They caused a lot of damage inside our store."
Garcia told CBS4's Peter D'Oench the alarm did not got off and they do not have insurance.
Call Crime Stoppers if you have any information at (305) 471-TIPS.
