ST. LOUIS – Thieves have been on a window-smashing spree in the Central West End over the last several days.
Multiple businesses, like Good Day Farms cannabis dispensary on Euclid Avenue, were broken into this week.
“They’ll use some sort of object, a brick or a rock or something to break into the business. They’re usually in and out relatively quickly and flee the area in what we suspect are stolen cars,” said Jim Whyte, executive director of the Central West End Neighborhood Security Initiative (CWE-NSI).
Two more break-ins this week happened near the Central West End, including a break-in at Thai Bowl and Wing Stop.
“These so-called smash and grabs are challenging. They are happening with some sort of frequency, so we’re really trying to nail down if it’s multiple groups or one group in particular for this,” Whyte said.
Whyte said the break-ins happen in the early overnight hours. On Monday, around 3 a.m., Cat O’Toole said the alarm at Brasserie went off.
“Nothing was really missing. It looked like they were looking for cash probably, but didn’t find any,” O’Toole said. “So, they just took off, and I think our alarm system started going off. It’s pretty loud, and maybe it spooked them.”
Whyte said the thieves are not getting away with anything valuable, but he said they are leaving behind a path of damage.
“We really try hard to make everyone feel safe here when they’re coming to work in this environment. It’s really, you know, difficult when things like this happen because it does take away that sense of safety that we should all have,” O’Toole said.
The St. Louis Police Department released the statement on a spike of burglaries in St. Louis City, including downtown and the Central West End neighborhood:
“The Department is actively investigating several recent burglaries that have occurred at businesses across the City. Our district burglary squads are working to determine connections between these incidents. While some of them have been revealed to be connected, we are continuing to investigate further information to find out if the same suspect(s) are responsible for all of the incidents. The Department is also reviewing patrol plans and will consider adjusting the patrol hours of our district burglary squads to combat this issue.“
