CHICAGO (WLS) — Two overnight burglaries about a mile and a half apart left small business owners cleaning up damage after crews smashed their way inside and ransacked the shops before fleeing, according to surveillance video and business owners.
At Milano Café in the Avondale neighborhood, the owner said glass doors were shattered early Monday morning, and several video gaming machines were destroyed.
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“Smashing with hammers, everything you know, the machines and the doors, and you know, but that was very quick, quick, but a lot of damage,” said Kasei Bereta, owner of Milano Café.
Security video from around 3:45 a.m. shows three people entering the restaurant after breaking the front door. Two of them used sledgehammers to smash video gaming machines, while a third went behind the bar and later walked out with the cash drawer from the register.
“I was very frustrated. I can’t cry anymore, you know. Because I try to survive, I try to make my business. I’ve been here 18 years,” Bereta said.
Bereta said the burglars did not take much, adding the video gaming machines are emptied of cash every two days by the companies that operate them.
About a mile and a half away, a store manager at Snacks ‘N Smoke said a similar burglary happened roughly 30 minutes earlier at the business near Cicero and Belmont. Surveillance video there shows two people breaking in through a window while others kept a lookout at the intersection.
“They literally got away with maybe less than $200 worth of product. I don’t know, in my head, that doesn’t make sense,” said Marcus Navarro, store manager at Snacks ‘N Smoke.
Navarro said it is the fourth attempted break-in or burglary at the store in less than two years. He pointed to a previous incident last summer where a crew tried to steal an ATM through the front door.
“I think the hardest part is just knowing that they’re hitting small businesses, right? These are mom and pop shops, like our owner has three kids, you know, he has a family to take care of,” Navarro said.
Bereta said the impact is taking a toll on small business owners.
“The small business are going down and down, people close, selling, moving, you know. It’s because whatever is happening right now in Chicago is just gross,” she said.
Police have not officially connected the two burglaries. However, descriptions of the suspects are similar, and both crews were seen driving off in a dark-colored vehicle.
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