Burglars caught on camera breaking into Humboldt Park auto body shop, leaving empty handed

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Three people were caught on camera breaking into an auto body shop on West Grand Avenue in Humboldt Park overnight Wednesday

In the video, you can see a vehicle ram into the garage of Jordan Automotive around 3:30 a.m., clearing some space for suspects to walk right in.

"We've been hearing they've been stealing license plates, programmer and keys from other shops," said Jamal Ziada, with Jordan Automotive. "We keep our keys, plates [and] anything of value to them -- we keep it locked up."

Because of that extra security measure, you can see the three suspects didn't have much success as you see them walk around wearing a mask with weapons in hand, while checking some of the cars and looking for keys or other valuables.

After coming up empty handed, the suspects run out of the shop and leave in two vehicles.

The shop owner said they have security cameras and an alarm system but it didn't really help with it all happening so fast. The suspects were in and out in just a minute or two, leaving behind damage, which the shop said will cost $7,000 to $10,000 to fix."

"It disrupts the business, as you can see," Ziada said. "We can't have any vehicles come in or come out and it's just inconvenience, not to mention the cost of repairing and the down time."

Ziada said he's heard from other auto shops in the city that have seen similar burglaries. The thieves are targeting temporary plates, which are often used on stolen vehicles to commit other crimes.

It's a problem for these small shops, but the business owners aren't sure what else the city can do to stop it.

"I think it's not the city that needs to do anything about it. I think shops, like us, we secure the keys, secure any programmers [and] any license plates then there wouldn't be anything of value for these thieves to go after," Ziada said.