Bill Reilly, the clerk of the state House, was already dreaming of his Colorado ski trip Monday when he walked to his car parked at the curb of the state Capitol.
Just one problem: His 1993 Chevy Suburban, the “war wagon” with 437,000 miles on it, was gone. In its place was a puddle of broken glass.
Sometime between 2 and 2:30 p.m. someone smashed the window, hot-wired the car and vanished. Reilly’s parking spot is about four spaces behind Speaker David Ralston’s and five behind Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle’s — both of whom are assigned state-owned SUVs and drivers.
The theft of Reilly’s vehicle comes just more than two years after the State Patrol beefed up security and a created a new post on Capitol Hill following a 2012 carjacking.
Reilly said Capitol Police have told him video cameras show two men breaking into the car and driving away.
Reilly told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he went out to his car around 2 p.m, went back inside the Capitol and returned at 2:30 to head for the airport.
“I bought that Suburban when my son was a year old,” Reilly said. “He’s 22 now.”
The thieves also made off with his son’s high-performance ski equipment, cameras, a GPS, tools and prescription sunglasses.
“They got everything we put together to take on a weeklong trip to Colorado,” he said.
This also isn’t the first time Reilly has had misfortune in his parking spot right on the curb on the east side of the Capitol. Last year, his Lincoln Town Car was hit by another vehicle.
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