Dozens of Musical Instruments Stolen From South Side Classroom, But Panicked Teacher's Hope is Not Lost

Music teacher Tim King has just one wish this holiday season: He wants to replace the instruments that were stolen from his classroom.

It’s a theft that has made it difficult for him to do the job he loves.

"I told them we would be learning a song by Selena on the guitar," he said of his students.

It was a lesson that never happened.

King walked into his classroom on a Monday morning in September to find about 30 musical instruments were missing.

"It was just anxiety--straight panic--almost like somebody broke into my house," he told NBC 5.

King teaches at Fulton Elementary School in the Back of The Yards neighborhood where police believe the thieves entered through a side window.

They got away with 20 guitars, 2 keyboards, a flute, some ukuleles and a metronome.

The loss is making it difficult for him to do his job, he said.

"I have to kind of work with what I do have," he said. "It's really difficult."

King is determined to bring music back to his classroom.

As word of the theft spread a woman contacted him and offered to purchase 13 ukuleles.

"The fact somebody would be so gracious like that was amazing, like wow, there are still good people in this world," he said.

And the generosity didn’t stop there.

On Tuesday evening Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy tweeted that he has some instruments too.

The instruments were not covered by insurance and will cost thousands of dollars to replace.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to try and help raise cash for replacements.

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