An attempted ATM heist at a 7-Eleven in Texas caused massive destruction inside the store — all caught on video — and police say they believe these robbers have struck before.
The brazen crime occurred around 3:45 am Christmas Eve morning in White Settlement, Texas, a northwestern suburb of Fort Worth. The wannabe robbers broke the door as he entered the 7-Eleven, attached a metal cable from an SUV to the ATM machine inside, and his accomplice drove off, dragging the machine through the store and “causing a total mess,” as CNN anchor Kate Bolduan put it reporting on the story Thursday.
A longer video with multiple surveillance video feeds was released by the White Settlement Police Department, showing the wreckage caused to the front of the store when the ATM machine tore through the door.
As the robbers fled, the ATM came loose and they abandoned it. Local police were able to find the machine along a highway service road. It was heavily damaged but they were able to recover it with the safe inside.
stolen ATM
Photo via Fort Worth Police Department.
According to Fox 4 KDFW, the vehicle was abandoned nearby and police believe they either fled on foot or were picked up in another vehicle. The SUV was identified as one that had been stolen from a Dallas apartment complex about an hour before the robbery attempt.
Several local police departments are cooperating in the search for the suspects. Authorities told KFDW that they believe the suspects have committed other similar robberies, possibly at convenience stores owned by the same person as this one.
“He’s been hit three times. He’s got a lot of convenient stores in Dallas-Fort Worth,” said White Settlement PD Chief Christopher Cook. “He really feels like the same people were involved. It is always a stolen SUV, it’s always two guys, and they do the same thing.”
Cook called the crime “brazen” because the store was open at the time and “well lit,” plus “it’s a small town.”
He was hopeful people would come forward with tips to help police solve this “pretty serious felony.”
Police said the two suspects were men wearing black hoodie sweatshirts, black pants, face masks, orange gloves, and one in white sneakers and the other in black sneakers. Tips can be submitted to Detective Geovanny Ramirez at 817-246-7070, ext. 420 or anonymously to Tarrant County Crime Stoppers at 817-469-TIPS.
Watch the clip above via CNN.
The post WATCH: Shocking Christmas Eve ATM Heist Attempt Absolutely Wrecks 7-Eleven in Texas first appeared on Mediaite.