Video shows a man on a bike breaking the window and grabbing a laptop. The crime took place just after two o'clock Monday morning at the Tech Central store in the 2500-block of North Halsted.
The co-owners of Tech Central closely inspected the busted out window at the Lincoln Park computer repair business Monday afternoon.
"I'm baffled. I'm surprised the guy just tossed a rock through the window," said Boris Umantsev, co-owner, Tech Central.
The laptop was hooked up to a TV monitor in the window and was programmed to play ads for their business, and various other videos. The owners say they made sure not to keep any account information on the laptop.
Umantsev says in the 14 months they have been at their location on North Halsted, they haven't had any problems.
"People walk by in the neighborhood, they like our sign and they like the website. Everybody's got a computer and everyone's got some sort of problem," said Umantsev.
The smash-and-grab happened around 2:45 Monday morning. A couple of hours later, police were tipped off by an anonymous call. In fact, the police called the owners from the business's phone to tell them what happened.
While they assess the damage from the robbery and arrange to repair the window, the owners hope video from the smash-and -grab will lead to an arrest of the suspect. They say that the laptop cost a few hundred dollars, but their peace of mind is worth a lot more.
"You want to make sure that your home, your store is secure and you see something like that happen, it's not a good feeling to see," said Michael Pappalardo, co-owner, Tech Central.
Police say they are investigating the case but have no leads at this time.