JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A video circulating on social media shows burglars crashing a car into the front window of a Westside GameStop.
(The video of the incident above contains graphic language. Viewer discretion is advised)
It’s one of three such incidents reported at Jacksonville GameStop locations over the past few days.
The store seen in the video is located on 103rd Street and the window is now boarded up. There is still glass on the ground. Two out of three of the stores that were hit are back open, but the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office estimates it’s going to cost thousands of dollars to repair the damage.
The video of the robbery looks like something straight out of Grand Theft Auto. The car was used as a battering ram and shattered the glass of the Westside GameStop around 3 a.m. on Saturday.
Several people scurried out of two cars, grabbed what they could, jumped back into the cars and took off.
The person who captured the video said they pressed record after they first witnessed an unsuccessful attempt to break the window, possibly because it had a grate on it.
It appears the burglars went straight to another GameStop, located nearby on Normandy Boulevard. According to an incident report, witnesses from the Waffle House across the street told police a white sedan rammed that storefront with a green Kia Soul pulling up right afterward. They said four to six suspects jumped out, burglarized the place and drove away in the Kia Soul.
According to police, left behind was the white car, which turned out to be stolen. Inside they found GameStop merchandise, a backpack and an iPad.
It’s unclear how much was stolen in this spree, but early Monday morning, burglars struck GameStop again. This time they battered down the door of the Oakleaf Town Center location and stole about $2,600 worth of Xboxes and other merchandise.
News4JAX turned to retired Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office supervisor Tom Hackney for analysis on why GameStop might be a target. He said the burglars seen in the video looked young and amateur.
“You tend to think that that’s more something for them and their use than somebody trying to do this organized burglary ring where they’re taking cell phones to sell or anything, I think you just don’t know that. But that’s that kind of store, obviously has those fortified entries for a reason,” he said.
According to JSO, in the latest GameStop burglary from Monday morning, the suspects were seen ramming the storefront in a small black car.
A spokesperson with JSO said they can’t say for sure if these three incidents are linked and no arrests have been made.
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