Smash & Grab Burglars Go On Early Morning Crime Spree
BROOMFIELD, Colo. (CBS4) - There was a lot of damage already done by the time businesses opened Wednesday morning in Broomfield and Westminster following a series a smash-and-grab burglaries.
Crooks stole cash and other valuables after targeting at least 12 businesses. The crimes were possibly done by the same crooks -- all similar -- with the burglars breaking through doors and windows to get in.
All the burglaries happened in the same area along 120th Avenue. Two small businesses hit in a Westminster strip mall were a deli and a nail salon.
Just before 4 a.m. the front door of the nail salon shattered and two masked intruders smashed through.
"Just more of the fact that you feel like you're being betrayed kind of by the community you're trying to serve," said Andrew Jaso, manager of The Vapor Shop, which was burglarized.
Jaso found broken glass and missing money and merchandise.
"You get a phone call at 4 a.m. and you kind of have an idea of what's going to happen," Jaso said.
Employees took inventory after the burglary and adding up what was stolen totaled in the thousands of dollars.
"They went for that register; obviously we don't have any money in there; they tore this one out of the wall … threw it all over the floor … stole our trash cans because that's what they were throwing all the stuff in," Jaso said.
While cameras caught the crime in action just down the road inside the nail salon, The Vape Shop cameras weren't working when they were hit.
"Terrible, terrible luck … maybe we were dealing with some kind of genius, but for whatever reason they weren't working," Jaso said.
Jaso wants the crooks to know their actions are having a major impact.
"They're just hurting regular people, you know, we're obviously not rich or anything; we're just trying to provide a product," he said.
Westminster and Broomfield police investigators detectives are working the cases and looking for leads. Business owners say they are working with insurance companies to file claims.