Burglars hit Atlanta public school again; suspects detained

By Larry Hartstein

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Two Atlanta public school burglaries in the last week ended much differently.

When burglars broke a window at Douglass High School in northwest Atlanta around 4:30 a.m. Sunday, the alarm sounded. Atlanta police arrived quickly and arrested the suspects before they could steal anything.

It was a stark contrast to last Wednesday, when burglars forced open a window at Maynard Jackson High School in southeast Atlanta around 3 a.m. They made off with 41 laptop computers, digital cameras and a video projector.

“They went in without breaking the window and the alarm didn’t go off,” Keith Bromery, spokesman for Atlanta Public Schools, said Monday morning. “They seemed to know the layout of the school. They covered (surveillance) cameras up. They went precisely where the equipment was. They weren’t stumbling around.”

No arrests have been made in the burglary at Maynard Jackson High. Police have not released the names of the suspects in the Douglass burglary.

Bromery said “it’s disconcerting for us to lose equipment used in the instructional program” and that “it affects the learning environment.”

The equipment will be replaced, he added, but was unsure how long that will take.