Dallas police said they're investigating another ATM theft Wednesday morning where thieves used a vehicle to crash into a store.[[295903901,L]]
At about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, police said someone driving a red Ford F-250 pickup truck smashed into the QuickWay convenience store near the intersection of Southwestern Boulevard and Greenville Avenue and stole the ATM.
In surveillance video released to NBC 5, a pickup truck is seen slamming into the front of the store not once, but twice. Two men then jump out, load an ATM onto the bed of the truck and take off.
The store's owners said they hope to reopen by Saturday, as the store isn't safe for customers.
Wednesday morning's smash-and-grab theft is the 28th in Dallas this year. Only two such incidents were reported in February, but there have already been six in March.
The number of reported ATM thefts has led the Dallas Police Department to create a specialized task force to investigate the crimes.
Police sources tell NBC 5 that Dallas detectives are looking into possibility these robberies are part of a bigger crime ring.
They’re looking to see if they’re connected to smash-and-grabs in Oklahoma, Colorado, Arkansas and Georgia. Most of the crimes, police say, involve a stolen pick up truck.
Police said in all of the reported thefts the thieves follow the same strategy of crashing into the store, many times in a stolen vehicle, while wearing masks and gloves. Most of the crimes take place in fewer than 90 seconds.
So far, police have arrested one person in connection with at least one of the robberies. Police have not said if they believe the thefts are being carried out by the same person or group.
A convenience store owner NBC 5 spoke with Wednesday afternoon said the ATM at his store was stolen a couple of weeks ago and the theft cost him $20,000 in repairs and about half of his sales.
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NBC 5's Amanda Guerra and Ray Villeda contributed to this report.
