Surveillance footage captured the daring theft of a man’s car as he fueled it up at a suburban gas station.
The footage shows a man pull into a gas station in the 400 block of Norh Mannheim Road Sunday about 10:20 a.m. As he begins to pump gas in his car, that’s when the thieves strike—making off with his car as he stands at the pump.
Hillside police Detective Carlo Viscioni says over the last year car thieves have been increasingly active.
“It seems that it gets a little busier as the weather gets colder. A lot of people like to warm up their cars or leave their cars running while they’re getting gas or doing short errands. And it doesn’t matter where you are,” he says.
Car dealerships across the Chicago area have also been targeted in recent months—from Naperville and Evanston to Villa Park and Tinley Park.
Viscioni says 10 to 15 jurisdictions are now gathering and sharing intelligence on what he believes is a ring of car thieves.
“We’re working lots of departments and sharing intelligence information and what we are seeing some of the offenders in our cases in this area are now offenders in other cases in other areas,” he told NBC 5.
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Police say the danger is that victims can be targeted at any time and nearly any place.
“There’s no need to resist or struggle with these individuals—these are dangerous people,” he said.
