JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Someone smashed a hole through a wall to break into a mom and pop card shop in Englewood and swipe merchandise, the owner of Jacksonville Game Center said.
It happened early Monday morning at a shopping plaza on Beach Boulevard near University Boulevard.
News4Jax was told someone first broke a window just after 5 a.m. to get into the Hunan Wok Chinese restaurant. Hunan Wok employees said the person took the hard drive to their security camera, went into the bathroom, smashed a hole in the wall and entered the Jacksonville Game Center.
The owner of the Jacksonville Game Center, which posted photos on its Facebook page of the damage, said the burglar was in his store around 5:30 a.m. for about three to four minutes. The owner said hundreds of dollars' worth of gaming cards were stolen and some of the security cameras were spray-painted.
But he said other cameras captured one thief, whose face was masked, wearing a large coat.
Though the owner did not wish to speak on camera, he said he was devastated by the break-in and hopes police can track down the person responsible.
He said he notified other gaming centers in the area about the break-in.
Hunan Wok's broken window has since been boarded up and the hole in the wall at Jacksonville Game Center has been patched up.
Some of the people who work in the plaza told News4Jax that windows of businesses have been busted out in the past. According to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office crime-mapping tool, there have been four burglaries, three acts of vandalism and four car break-ins reported in the last month within a half-mile radius of the Jacksonville Game Center.