Burglars hit pizzeria in Lockport, Illinois, damage cash registers and gaming machines

Police in the southwest Chicago suburb of Lockport were investigating a crash-and-grab burglary at a pizzeria early Thursday.

Lockport police said at 2:10 a.m., they were called to Villa Nova Pizza, at 946 N. State St. in Lockport, for a burglar alarm going off. At the pizzeria, they found the window broken, and cash registers and video gambling machines damaged.

The perpetrators were gone by the time police arrived.

Surveillance video showed that at 2:05 a.m., five people wearing all black clothes and gloves and masks got out of a black sport-utility vehicle, broke the front window of the pizzeria, and went in. The video shows the burglars smashing open the video gaming machines with what appeared to be sledgehammers and pickaxes.

The burglars got back in the SUV and fled three minutes later, police said.

The total loss to the pizzeria remained under investigation Thursday afternoon.

Police said the incident might be related to a series of burglaries around the same time affecting at least five other municipalities. This is the first such burglary in Lockport.