Burglary Crew Hits 2 Tinley Strip Malls On 4th Of July

TINLEY PARK, IL — A known burglary crew hit two Tinley Park strip malls in a Fourth of July smash-and-grab Thursday night, breaking windows and stealing cash from seven businesses, including a sandwich shop, an ice cream parlor and a dry cleaner.

The strips malls are located at 171st Street and 80th Avenue and at 183rd Street and Harlem Avenue. Jimmy John's, Pine Cleaners, Plush Horse are among the seven burglarized Thursday night, Tinley Park police said.

"The suburbs, the city — everyone is getting absolutely crushed with these type of things," said Tinley Park Sergeant Pat St. John.

The owner of Pine Cleaners, Jenny Kim, said someone broke through her window and swiped what little cash she had from her drawer.

"There was not much money," she said, "but they took everything."

St. John said that the crew smashed the windows in the doors of each business and stole cash from registers much like the way Kim described.

The crew is known to police, he said, and is using stolen cars to make its way across the south suburbs to target local businesses. The crew has hit stores in Chicago Heights and Hazel Crest, and it hit Lockport after Tinley's smash-and-grab Thursday night, he said.

St. John added that Tinley is working with police in other municipalities to solve the crimes. He said that police captured good video evidence Thursday and made headway into the cases.

Estimates on damage were not yet available because police and business owners were still assessing the fallout from the burglaries.

St. John assured residents that the Tinley Park police department, despite manpower shortages, was doing everything in its power to catch the suspects and to prevent crimes like this from happening again. Tougher action in the criminal justice system would help, he suggested.

"We are not alone in this getting inundated with this type of crime," St. John said. "It's unfortunate that what people in Cook County are seeing is that there are no consequences [for convicted criminals] and that is well above any kind of police response. And it's unfortunate that the criminals know that."

Police described the suspects in at least one of the burglaries as two black males in their late teens to early 20s with thin builds.