The Cook County Sheriff’s Office has launched an investigation into a string of nighttime break-ins at a strip mall located in the northern suburbs.
Authorities were alerted to the burglaries shortly before 3 a.m. on Thursday, in an area of Des Plaines that is not incorporated.
According to multiple accounts from employees and business owners, the culprits gained entry by shattering doors and windows, making off with cash from the premises.
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The break-ins affected seven establishments situated at the intersection of Ballard and Potter in unincorporated Maine Township, specifically in the 9300 block of Ballard Road in Des Plaines, as confirmed by the Sheriff’s Office.
Footage from surveillance cameras caught one of the break-ins in progress. The video shows a masked individual entering a small grocery store through a broken glass door, leaping over the counter, seizing cash, and then leaving the scene.
Investigators say there were four suspects involved One by one, the group hit seven businesses overnight, smashing glass doors and windows to get inside.
Julieta Krohn, part-owner and cashier at La Guadalupana Mercado, says thieves took about fifty dollars but caused them hundreds of dollars-worth of damage.
“I thought it was only this store but we find out that it was the entire mall from one corner to another,” Krohn said. “For nothing. They destroyed a lot stores for some change probably and we got stuck with it.”
Krohn says they just opened their shop a month ago and were devastated when they got the call.
“You come in the morning and you just see your store being destroyed. Everything was on the floor, everything,” Krohn said. “They took chips-everything was a mess in here.”
Investigators shared images of a silver Toyota the four suspects got away in.
Anyone with information that could help the Cook County Sheriff’s Office has been asked to contact detectives.
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