LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Back-to-back break-ins in the downtown Arts District has some business owners wondering what more could be done to make the area safer.
Surveillance video from early Thursday morning shows a person breaking through Dig it Coffee’s glass door.
Although items behind the counter were shuffled, Dig It Coffee’s Owner, Taylor Chaney, says no money was stolen because they are a cashless shop.
However, she estimates it will cost around $2,000 to fix the glass door.
“You work really hard to create this positive and inviting environment and you see a video of someone who intrudes, and it shakes you up a little bit,” she says. “You’re worried about your people and their safety.”
Just down the street at Tacotarian, surveillance video shows a masked figure dashing behind the bar and ripping their POS system from its place.
“It was a lot of glass everywhere, and also the POS, the register, it was everything on the ground. Everything was everywhere,” Tacotarian Manager Miriam Cedeno says.
The burglar took money from the register, which was only $10, but Cedeno estimates the total damages will be over $2,000.
Metro is investigating both incidents, and we have reached out for additional information.
Just a couple of blocks away, the owner of 18bin, Greg Costello, says they were broken into earlier this month as well. The Owner of Fresa’s Skate Shop, Amanda Quintanilla, says they were burglarized just last week.
“We have seen a lot of that, we have people that just grab our bags and run off. But the last few weeks it’s just been a little more aggressive,” Quintanilla says.
Tacotarian’s Owner Kristin Corral says she plans to meet with Ward 3′s Councilwoman Olivia Diaz and Metro’s downtown command captain to come up with a plan.
She proposed something similar to Chinatown’s new Task Force.
“Any help that we can get as a small business, I’m grateful. Right now I don’t think we have anything, so we’re really on our own,” Quintanilla says.
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