Vehicle break-ins this morning at Circle Center Mall

[jblomenberg16]

My wife just called and said our van got broken into this morning in one of the parking garages at Circle Center mall.


Several other cars around it had windows busted out. They apparently popped the lock out of our van and didn't break any windows out. She said nothing appeared to be missing, including the GPS that was still laying right out in plain view. My guess is they were looking for purses and other items like that.


Police are on the way so we can have a report to file with insurance.


With all the events going on in Indy today - INDY1500, Colts Game, State Cheer Competition, etc. it sounds like there are people out and about looking for targets of opportunity. Heads up everyone.

Might be a good idea not to lock your valuables in your car while you are gone.

 

[esrice]

- INDY1500, Colts Game, State Cheer Competition, etc.

Which one was your wife going to?

 

[jblomenberg16]

Which one was your wife going to?

I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count...

 

[smiley69_300]

That sucks man. Sorry to hear about that, Atleast the didnt take anything and it coulda been a lot worse I guess.

 

[jblomenberg16]

That sucks man. Sorry to hear about that, Atleast the didnt take anything and it coulda been a lot worse I guess.

Thanks buddy. My first thoughts when she called were:


Are you alone and is the perp still lurking nearby?

Call the police (non emergency #) and go to a "safe" area right now

What did they take?

What's this going to cost me to get fixed?

 

[Ricnzak]

Just wondering, was it a full size van? A few years back I was in operations at a local mall. The Chevy van was the item of choice for crooks to break into. They used to have a cheap lock system on the doors. (No I'm not knocking Chevy just stating a fact. I own Chevy myself) They have a tool that will punch the lock and the door will open right up. It is less noise than breaking a window. It was so bad that when security would see one in the parking lot they would wait for someone to try to break into it. The most common thing they would steal was the roof mounted DVD. 1 minute with a screw gun and they had it. I'm surprised they didn't take the GPS. Hopefully the police will have the mall check the security cameras. That whole mall is wired.

Thank god your wife was not around at the time of the crime. A lock, or a item is much easier to replace than the thought of a loved one being harmed by some POS who got surprised by the owner and did something rash out of panic.

I don't care how much the city tries to paint downtown and malls as a safe area, they are not. If they are connected to a bus line or in the city everyone should always be careful. Those facilities are the worse for this type of issue.

 

[jblomenberg16]

Just wondering, was it a full size van? A few years back I was in operations at a local mall. The Chevy van was the item of choice for crooks to break into. They used to have a cheap lock system on the doors. (No I'm not knocking Chevy just stating a fact. I own Chevy myself) They have a tool that will punch the lock and the door will open right up. It is less noise than breaking a window. It was so bad that when security would see one in the parking lot they would wait for someone to try to break into it. The most common thing they would steal was the roof mounted DVD. 1 minute with a screw gun and they had it. I'm surprised they didn't take the GPS. Hopefully the police will have the mall check the security cameras. That whole mall is wired.

Thank god your wife was not around at the time of the crime. A lock, or a item is much easier to replace than the thought of a loved one being harmed by some POS who got surprised by the owner and did something rash out of panic.

I don't care how much the city tries to paint downtown and malls as a safe area, they are not. If they are connected to a bus line or in the city everyone should always be careful. Those facilities are the worse for this type of issue.

Actually it is a Buick minivan (so still GM). I talked to her a few minutes ago after she got done talking with the police officer and getting the police report.

Sounds like they more or less did what you said, and punched in (rather than pop out like I originally thought) the lock. There are a few dents in the door where they must have been trying to get leverage to pry it open.


She'll be home later, so I'll be able to see first hand. The more we talk about it, the more it sounds like they might not have even gotten into our van, just damaged it in the process of trying to get in. That might be why the GPS (and as it turns out cameras, DVD player, etc.) were not stolen.

That would make sense if it was guys going through quickly trying to get some easy pickins. Once they had trouble with our van, they probably quickly went on to the next vehicle in order to get out of dodge.


What is still interesting is that the vehicles all around it had busted windows, so not sure why they didn't bust our's out as well. Not that I'm complaining of course.

 

[Indy317]

<Yawns> This happens _daily_ in the metro area. When FFA was in town, something like 20-30 vehicles downtown. At IUPUI, most in a day was 15 or thereabouts.

Just checked on the location of two suspects. One suspect is still locked up in Hendricks County and the other is still in Marion County. Must be some other guys/girls that shop downtown.

Might be a good idea not to lock your valuables in your car while you are gone.

It is a good idea to never leave anything in a car, ever, that you don't want stolen. If I leave a gun in the car, it is in there for 10 mins, if that. If I go out to eat and stuff is in the car, I park in a space so I can eat _and_ watch my car. Vehicle break-ins are why I put up with a broken factory CD player for two years. Vehicle break-ins are why I don't have electronics that costs hundreds to thousands of dollars. Vehicle break-ins are why I don't keep nothing but junk in my car. Vehicle break-ins are the easiest way to make money. Unfortunately this type of crime pays, as the punishment is never anything serious. Maybe lose a year or two of your freedom over the course of a couple of decades. Lot of these folks could make some serious money, but most end up blowing it on drugs and such.

 

[snapping turtle]

Just w. That whole mall is wired.

.

Yes it is: I installed the first and several upgrades including lurker features. Lots of parking garage cameras.

 

[DHolder]

As if Jam Fest isn't expensive enough! Now an insurance claim to boot. I feel your pain, I drop my wife and daughters off and come back when they are done, I hate to pay 20 bucks for a piece of ground to park on for a few hours, and sacred body part to watch them cheer.

 

[jblomenberg16]

Well, I had a chance to look at the van, and it wasn't as bad as I first thought.

It looks like they probably took the end of the prybar and drove the lock cylinder into the door itself. There is some cosmetic damage in the handle surround, but the door pannel seems to be ok, which is good.


We also discovered that they did take one item, a cooler that had a 1/2 gallon of milk, some "sippy cups" for our daughter, and a bottle of amoxacillin (sp?) antiboitic that was in the cooler.

All easily replaceable. The only concerning thing is the prescription did have our daughter's name and address on it.

So, Monday we'll start seeing what it takes to get it fixed, call insurance, etc. It sounds like the parking garage will also be in touch with us concerning the incident, so perhaps they have some insurance that can cover this as well.


Either way, I'm glad it wasn't worse. The lock on the van is easily replaced, and I have a safe and healthy wife and daughter.


Also +1 to the IPD officer that helped my wife. She said he was very nice and professional and helped get all the info recorded in the report.

 

[Joe Williams]

I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count...

Why did she go to the 1500 without you?

 

[printcraft]

................

All easily replaceable. The only concerning thing is the prescription did have our daughter's name and address on it.

Do you have a garage door opener?

If so do u still have it?

Your address with a "key"

 

[jblomenberg16]

Do you have a garage door opener?

If so do u still have it?

Your address with a "key"

That is a very good point. The van actually has one of those built in programmable buttons for the garage, so no opener on the visor like usual that could have been taken.


But that is a very very good point that I hadn't thought about.

 

[jblomenberg16]

Why did she go to the 1500 without you?

Hopefully to buy me something!

 

[JustGone]

Alot of American car manufacturers seem to get chincy on their locks. My dad had a sweet year 2001 or newer Ford broken into, and the lock cylinder was shrouded in plastic so it was easy to punch.

The same guys who broke into his truck tried to punch the lock on my BMW and they couldn't punch it, as it was a stronger lock and didn't have any plastic components. They used enough force to dent in the area surrounding the handle. It was a pain gettin the handle out and pulling the dent and gettin the new handle in. But the fix was only $60 dollars, so I wasn't complainin too bad. Also my car was not some fancy one it was bottom of the line 3-series from 95 lol Seems asian manufacturers and American get cheap with the locks.

 

[Indy317]

Alot of American car manufacturers seem to get chincy on their locks. My dad had a sweet year 2001 or newer Ford broken into, and the lock cylinder was shrouded in plastic so it was easy to punch.

The same guys who broke into his truck tried to punch the lock on my BMW and they couldn't punch it, as it was a stronger lock and didn't have any plastic components. They used enough force to dent in the area surrounding the handle. It was a pain gettin the handle out and pulling the dent and gettin the new handle in. But the fix was only $60 dollars, so I wasn't complainin too bad. Also my car was not some fancy one it was bottom of the line 3-series from 95 lol Seems asian manufacturers and American get cheap with the locks.

In the end it doesn't matter, if they want in they just bust the window. I have had about 75% of vehicle break-ins with busted windows, 25% either punched lock or the vehicle was left unlocked (no evidence of forced entry).

 

[JustGone]

In the end it doesn't matter, if they want in they just bust the window. I have had about 75% of vehicle break-ins with busted windows, 25% either punched lock or the vehicle was left unlocked (no evidence of forced entry).

In the end it did matter, to me, because they didn't break the window. Therefore nothing inside was stolen