Video shows man use shovel to try and break into Boston restaurant safe
A series of break-ins at local businesses over the last week are under investigation on East Broadway Street in South Boston.
The Paramount is a local diner known for its good eats and neighborly atmosphere, but on Thursday night a man allegedly broke in the back door and got away with hundreds of dollars in tips.
"It's tough enough to run a small business by itself, but when you have crazy people breaking in and damaging and vandalizing your property, it makes it a little bit tougher," said The Paramount's manager, Dan Conlon. "He tried to break into our safe. The first time he broke in he used a crowbar. He couldn't use a crowbar to try to break into our safe, so he came back with a shovel to try to use a shovel to break in. We were fortunate that he wasn't able to get in with a shovel either."
Captured on surveillance video
Surveillance video from inside the restaurant shows the alleged burglar beating the safe over and over to no avail.
When he noticed the security camera in the corner, he tried to hit it too. "He tried to destroy the evidence by damaging our cameras as well as the TV monitors in our office," Conlon said.
That footage has been handed over to investigators at the Boston Police Department. Investigators said the thief successfully broke into two registers and took out the business's internet.
Conlon said at least two other businesses on this same stretch of East Broadway were also broken into within recent days. "This is a great neighborhood," Conlon said, "and to see stuff like like that happening, it's just something you don't want to see."
Boston Police said they were investigating this break-in and asked the public to call them at (617) 343-4742 if they had any information about the break-ins or the man in the surveillance video.
