Caught on camera: Could same group of eight suspects be responsible for burglaries at three car dealerships?
MILWAUKEE -- Shocking video shows a car dealership in Milwaukee being ransacked early on Monday morning, January 4th -- and it wasn't the only dealership that was hit. Police are looking into whether the same suspects are responsible for three separate crimes.
MLH Exchange car dealership
Some Milwaukee aldermen joined the owner of the MLH Exchange car dealership on Tuesday to speak out against these crimes.
No vehicles were stolen from the MLH dealership -- but the owner says his business suffered more than $2,000 in damage.
Police say the MLH dealership was one of three car dealerships broken into early Monday morning.
Police are looking into whether the suspects, who were caught on camera, are responsible for all three crimes.
Burglary at MLH Exchange
"The video is really, really disturbing. Seeing that many people coming into something that belongs to you and not being here to do anything about it," Melih Goral, who owns the MLH Exchange car dealership said.
Melih Goral
Goral's surveillance cameras captured the eight suspects inside and outside his dealership. The suspects arrived in a silver Dodge Caravan around 4:00 a.m. and stole eight sets of car keys.
No vehicles were taken.
Goral says that's because the keys belonged to vehicles located on the inside of the lot. The suspects were able to get into at least one vehicle -- which is seen in the surveillance video.
Burglary at MLH Exchange
"Maybe I got lucky the car was a stick shift and the guy who got in maybe didn`t know how to drive a manual car. I'm not sure," Goral said.
Police say the same group is believed to be responsible for an attempted burglary around 4:10 a.m. at Ram’s Auto Sales near 22nd and Greenfield. The suspects were unsuccessful in stealing any of the cars from that dealership.
Some aldermen call this sort of thing a crime that's becoming far too common in Milwaukee, and they say it shouldn't be happening in the first place.
Alderman Bob Donovan
"It is incumbent upon our auto dealers to be cognizant of the fact that this is the environment sadly that we`re living in here in Milwaukee and steps need to be taken to secure their keys and send the message that OK -- if you're going to be stupid enough to break in, you're not going to get any vehicles and you're not going to get any keys," Alderman Bob Donovan said.
Police say a total of eight sets of car keys were stolen at MLH Exchange.
Two of those sets of keys have been recovered.