Earlier this month I wrote about using vehicles to crash through storefronts in an article entitled “Bollards Help Stop Vehicles From Crashing Into Buildings”.These incidents are commonly referred to as ram raids or crash and grab.
The first portion of the video above vividly depicts a truck (apparently stolen in Mt. Prospect) crashing through the front windows of a Libertyville, IL gun shop while being driven in reverse and then pulling out of the store. The next segment was captured by an interior camera.
A young man with a cap and a bandana over his face enters through the broken storefront glass. A grey backpack is on his back. He starts looking around and settles to rummaging through some inventory. Ammunition was stolen, but no guns. The incident took place in 2016.
In February of this year the Chicago Tribune’s Libertyville Review reported this was apparently the act of a 13 year old boy from Wheeling, IL.. The article is titled “13-year-old charged in 2016 Libertyville gun store crash-and-grab: police”. Since the theft took place in 2016, that means the boy was a mere 11 years old at the time.
While investigating another incident, the boy was linked to the Libertyville burglary through DNA evidence left at the scene. Police also commented that there may have been someone else in the vehicle as well, so the case remains open.
Incidents like this are mostly preventable with precautionary use of vehicle barriers and crash rated bollards. Read more about Crash Rated Bollards.
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