Another smash and grab hits Cleveland’s near west side.
This is the fourth robbery like this on the same street in the past two weeks, but Cleveland police said it is too early to tell if this theft is connected to any others.
Business owners there are obviously frustrated. They told me they don't know what to do.
“I’m so exhausted, I’m so tired, I’m so frustrated with that situation when I look at the store like that,” said Khaled Klobe, the owner of the Dairy Mart at West 117th Street and Headley Avenue where the smash and grab happened.
Around 4 this morning Klobe got a call that his store had been broken into.
“The whole idea was just to get the ATM machine and they did over 30 dollars, 30 thousand dollars’ worth of damage,” he said.
The surveillance video shows the suspects first backing their vehicle into the store, then unsuccessfully trying to grab the ATM by hand, and finally backing the car into the store a second time to grab what they came for.
“I hope these people know they’re not going to expect a lot of money out of those machines,” said Klobe.
He said he’s fed up, as this is the seventh robbery he's experienced on this street, and questions what the city is doing about it.
“When it happens frequently, I think that’s kind of a wake-up call for the city or kind of raise a flag for the city, like why? Why that happen every other day or every week?” said Klobe.
And he’s is not alone, other business owners share the same concerns.
Narhari Patel, the owner of the Mini Mart just down the street from Klboe store said something needs to be done.
“I’m concerned about this, yes. It is absolutely frustrating. We need to get together and tell the police that they can increase the patrolling between midnight and 5 o’clock in the morning.”
Now having to shut down for nearly 4 days, Klobe expresses his doubts about even keeping his store at all.
“Seriously making me like rethink about operating this kind of business anymore, because it’s getting ridiculous. It’s too many things happen to run a business like that.”
I reached out to the Cleveland police for a comment on the business owners request for more police patrol. They were unable to meet with me, but did send a statement saying
"Officers do patrol the neighborhoods at all times of the day and night...Business owners are advised to make sure alarms are working properly and to call police to check on suspicious persons or circumstances."
