Dramatic surveillance video shows thieves carrying out a brazen smash-and-grab burglary at a Midtown print shop — the third break-in since July at Creative Approach on West Peachtree Street.
The video, obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, clearly shows five people, four wearing hoodies and one with a T-shirt tied around his face to conceal his identity.
They heave a large rock at the shop’s plate glass window not once or twice, but four times before shattering the window enough to gain entry.
The video then shows one suspect running away with a computer. The others struggle for several seconds to pull computer monitors out the shattered window before dropping the large monitors on the sidewalk and running away empty-handed.
The entire break-in lasted less than a minute.
Witnesses told police the suspects who appear to be from 15- to 19-years-old, got in a dark-colored sedan with a loud muffler and sped away from the scene.
“It’s getting really, really old,” Creative Approach general manager Jeff Cela said. “Something has to be done.”
In July, thieves broke into the print, design and marketing company and took 20 iMac computers, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. The shop was broken into a second time on Sept. 4, according to police, but it was not clear Monday what, if anything, the thieves took in that incident.
Monday’s 4:15 a.m. break-in wasn’t the first smash-and-grab of the day to be investigated by Atlanta police.
About 30 minutes earlier, burglars drove a vehicle through the front doors of a high-end Buckhead clothing boutique, leaving a mess of shattered glass and bent security screens.
Atlanta police have not said how much merchandise was stolen by at least two suspects during the 3:45 a.m. smash-and-grab burglary at the Exclusive Game Men’s Style House at Peachtree and Piedmont roads.
The thieves sped away in a black Dodge Charger, police said.
