MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Police are searching for about a dozen crooks who busted their way into a local liquor store, stealing thousands of dollars in alcohol.
The suspects – at least 12 to 14 of them according to the store’s owner – broke into Buster’s Liquors and Wines on Highland near the Poplar Plaza area just after 3:30 a.m. Friday, August 5, 2022. Owner Josh Hammond said five windows were broken, and surveillance video shows the suspects pouring through a broken window into the store, then stealing more than $10,000 in alcohol.
“I was warned about this just two days ago. There is a rash of stores that have been broken into – a rash of crime I guess you could say of these burglaries. They have stolen a significant amount of liquor from numerous retail liquor stores. Pretty confidently we’ll be banding together, and getting a reward put together to see that a lot of these individuals get arrested,” said Hammond.
Hammond said it took the thieves about two to three minutes to get in and out, and they were in four to five different vehicles.
“Folks know who they are. This is - you can’t just shuffle that much liquor out of these stores and not know who’s doing it, so, you know, I think they’ll, some of them are going to get arrested at some point and we’ll see, and I just hope no one gets hurt in the process. You know. That’s the big thing,” he said.
Hammond said the theft won’t stop the store from opening Friday morning at 10 a.m., as usual. But customers should know they may be short on some services as they continue to clean up and assess everything that was stolen and damaged.
“They’re not gonna shut us down,” said Hammond.
Anyone with information on this burglary or others can call Crime Stoppers at 901-528-CASH.
