$50K in hair extensions stolen from Oak Lawn beauty supply

OAK LAWN, Ill. (WLS) -- Police are looking for nine people involved in a smash-and-grab burglary in the south suburbs.

An Oak Lawn beauty supply store manager says hooded thieves stole over $50,000 in hair extensions, but left the cash register untouched.

"What they do is, one starts to throw a landscaping brick through the front window, so as that breaks the window, you see the group all goes in a one time, then they all run out," said Cmdr. Randy Palmer, Oak Lawn Police Dept.

Eyewitness News obtained exclusive video of the gang of hooded thieves in action.

"It's crazy, it's unbelievable the way it happened," said Al Salman, beauty supply manager.

Salman is disheartened at what happened next. A camera inside facing the door captured the criminals entering one by one, and then it's on- a hair extension heist worth thousands.

"It's malicious, the way they did it," said Salman.

Nine burglars in action wearing hoodies, some even gloves. The manager says they swiped at least $50,000 worth of merchandise.

"If it was a one person thing you would think, okay he needs some money, he broke in. But this was organized. That's what makes this scary," said Salman.

It was planned to the point that one thief empties a box to get after high-end extensions made out of human hair worth $100 to $300 per package.

"They did it right. They knew what to get, they exactly got the expensive stuff. You're talking about tens of thousands of dollars gone in less than a minute," said Salman.

And it was only hair extensions, an overhead camera shows the cash register untouched.

The store has several cameras. In fact, 15 minutes before the heist, outside cameras caught two couples strolling by Sunday. Whatever the case, the store manager and owner want justice.

"For the people who did this to get caught, and to put an end to any organized crime like this," said Salman.

The store manager said they've installed a metal grate on the door now. Oak Lawn police say they're looking closely at the surveillance video, but so far, no one is in custody.