Atlanta

Thieves hit 6 businesses in matter of minutes

ATLANTA — Business owners in a northwest Atlanta shopping center are angry after thieves hit six stores in a matter of minutes.

Thieves broke in and got away in seven minutes Tuesday at a strip mall on Chattahoochee Avenue.

The thieves arrived in a dark-colored Mustang and used a crowbar and a bat to smash their way into the stores, which included two gyms, a guitar shop and a salon.

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“It just gives you an eerie feeling. You work hard for everything that you have and people think they can just go inside a door and tear it open and just take,” salon owner Crystal Giles said.

Giles believes it was her talking alarm that scared the thieves away.

“We have some silent alarms put in. We’re getting more cameras installed and we’re getting locked and loaded,” she said.

Keith White works at Atlanta Bass Gallery and said his cameras caught four burglars milling through his shop. The thieves took an old keyboard and a pistol.

White said he is fed up with thieves.

“I’m tired of these punk thieves around here. Just go get a job. Do something that’s not going to get you shot,” he said.

Business owners hope surveillance images will help catch the thieves before someone gets hurt.

“I would just hate for one of these kids to come across the wrong person and their parents have to put on a black dress,” Giles said.

Owners are thinking of added patrol to stop burglars, who they believe are also breaking in to cars.