Three suspects arrested in smash-and-grab robberies

PEARLAND, TX

Eyewitness News was there as the three male suspects were arrested in Houston Wednesday morning. They were caught off the South Loop, miles away from the Back to Basics Day Care in Pearland.

Pearland police showed us surveillance video recorded this morning. The silver car on the left, say police, is the same car the suspects were driving when arrested. The victim's car blocks our view, but police say a suspect broke the victim's passenger window and stole her purse.

Neither the victim nor the owners of Back to Basics wanted to talk to us, but Pearland police are hopeful today's arrest put a stop to a rash of smash and grabs in west Pearland.

"To commit this type of crime, especially in a busy parking lot the way that they did, indicates they are pretty bold. This doesn't appear to be a case where this is the first offense like this they've committed," Lt. Onesimo Lopez of the Pearland Police Department.

Pearland has seen a rash of burglaries of motor vehicles, or BMVs. In just the past four months this year, there have been 134 reported BMVs with 30 happening in west Pearland

The three suspects -- Erik Lewis, James Edwards and Kenneth Butler -- are all in custody. All three are from Florida.

Authorities don't yet know if the trio are responsible for more than today's crime, but Natalie Johnson is hopeful. Her day care and school in Pearland was a recent target.

"We're excited. We called the owners and we are just like wow we're very happy and very grateful," said Natalie Johnson of the Primrose School.

The three suspects remain at the Pearland Police Department. They are each charged with burglary of a motor vehicle.