WILMETTE, Ill. (WLS) — Dozens of business owners are cleaning-up after a series of crimes along the North Shore.
Police in Wilmette and Evanston are working together to investigate the burglaries.
The owner of one of the businesses spoke with ABC7.
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Police say a group of burglars in a single vehicle broke into at least 16 Wilmette businesses in two parts of the suburb, and they did it less than half an hour.
Surveillance video from one of the businesses, Pit & Tap on Wilmette Avenue, shows offenders breaking a front window, climbing through and stealing two cash registers that had a small amount of money. They were in an out in less than two minutes.
It was one of at least seven break-ins in Wilmette’s Village Center around 4 a.m. Minutes before that, nine other businesses were burglarized a couple miles west of there, in another part of Wilmette.
The owner of Pit & Tap, Michael Clarke, says there were seven burglars in one vehicle, and they fanned out in team to commit all the break-ins.
“I’d like to think that this was just a spur of the moment situation, but these guys honestly knew what they were looking for,” Clarke said. “They had to have looked in these businesses to see if there were cash drawers in the area. They didn’t search around. they knew exactly where to go to.”
Wilmette police say they attempted to stop the thieves after they left Village Center, but they fled south on the expressway, and a Chicago police helicopter later located their stolen vehicle and saw the offenders running away.
Police are investigating whether the Wilmette burglaries are connected to a series of similar break-ins in Evanston around the same time. At least nine businesses were broken into in that suburb.
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Source: abc7chicago.com
