Gas station damaged by suspected thieves

HOUSTON

Managers arrived at the Citgo gas station on Airline near Berry around 4:30am and found a huge hole in front of the building. The huge hole is the spot where Houston police say criminals made an attempt at a bold smash-and-grab, crashing a pickup truck right through the front.

The store manager believes he knows what the suspects were after.

"The ATM and the safe," he said.

The suspected thieves barely missed the large ATM on the other side of the damaged wall.

"They targeted it," said the manager.

Instead the suspects crashed through a hallway and part of a bathroom, rupturing pipes and flooding the convenience store, apparently before making off with nothing at all.

"It look like somebody had abandoned it here," said a customer.

Police later found what's believed to be the suspects' stolen damaged pickup truck. It was ditched in the back parking lot of a Fiesta grocery store next door.

"It's got real bad damage to the rear-end," said the customer.

Meanwhile, store owners are left cleaning up what they believe is anywhere from $15,000 to $20,000 in damages as police try to track down the criminals.

There was no one was inside the store at the time of the crime. Police hope the surveillance video will help them track down those suspects.

Copyright © 2024 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.