MEMPHIS, Tenn — Early Monday morning, apparel store City Gear in South Memphis was robbed after someone crashed a box truck into the side of the building and made off with an unknown amount of merchandise.
Then, only hours later and in broad day light, a group of people robbed it again.
ABC24 was on the scene at 1781 South 3rd Street and caught the second crime on camera.
The news crew was at City Gear to do a follow-up story on the early morning break-in. It was as the camera was filming a repair crew working to patch the hole in the wall, when four to five cars pulled up.
The cars arrived a little before 1 p.m., circling around the gigantic hole in the City Gear back warehouse, before a group of men casually walked up and started grabbing boxes of shoes from inside.
Members of the construction crew ran for safety as more and more people — many of them wearing masks — ran off with armfuls of Nike, Adidas and other name-brand sneakers.
ABC24 cameras left to get to a safe location and the news team called 911. They returned to the store once Memphis police were on scene.
MPD said officers responded to the first robbery at around 3:50 a.m. and saw three cars and a box truck at the back of the store.
Officers said suspects used the truck to ram the side of the building, creating the giant hole leading right into the warehouse behind the store front.
MPD said they do not have any suspect information or video evidence of the first incident. Regarding the second incident, they said several men took multiple pairs of Nike shoes and other apparel. The estimated cost of the merchandise is $50,000.
Police said one of the vehicles used was a light blue Chrysler 200 with MS tags DAY8210, and they have made no arrest at this time.
Management for City Gear did not make any comment to ABC24.
ABC24 also reached out to MPD as well as the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office to check on the status of Operation Broken Bottles, the special task force designed to combat smash and grabs. Neither has responded back.