Smash and grab burglar targets tattoo parlor in north Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Police responded to a smash and grab at a tattoo parlor just in time to make an arrest early this morning.

It happened around 2am on Airline and West. A worker inside the business tells Eyewitness News she was in an office in the back of the parlor when she heard a loud crash.

Police say the unidentified man they arrested threw a rock through the front glass, shattering the window. They say the burglar then broke into the shop by shimmying his way through the burglar bars. That man was quickly arrested.

Police say they found him with a bunch of stolen knives hidden in his coat.

The worker didn't want to be identified, but told us police found the man hiding under the bed in her office.

"I was asleep in the back of the building, and they just broke the window, so I ran into the restroom and hid, because I just heard noises, and I think they were stealing from us, and I called the police," she said.

As the workers deal with cleaning up the mess, police tell us the arrested man is going to be charged with burglary of a business.