A store break-in Friday morning in Miami did serious damage but left the merchandise inside intact, officials said.
A crew of six men worked Friday afternoon to patch up a hole in the roof above Advance America, a check-cashing store at 2964 SW Eighth St. The crew was cleaning up the mess made by some people trying to break in just after 4 a.m. Friday.
Nothing was stolen, but the break-in was a huge undertaking.
"It was like a hammer, one of those big hammers, and they were just bringing that down in order for them to open the roof," said Cristy Alfonso of Preferred Care Partners Medical Group, which has offices next door.
Whoever it was made it pretty far and came prepared with chopping and cutting tools. They cut the camera lines to make sure there would be no surveillance video of the crime, and they broke up pieces of the roof, leaving behind a pile of rubble and space to crawl into the store.
But, they didn't make it very far before the alarm went off and scared them off. The burglars even left behind their tools when they took off.
Victor Vizcaya, owner of the South Beauty Supply shop next door to the check-cashing store, showed Local Ten his missing ceiling panels.
"Last night, somebody come in through the roof. They broke the tile," Vizcaya said.
He spent Friday afternoon cleaning up the mess made by the burglars, and it was the second time his shop has been broken into this year.
The break-in artists were obviously skilled. But, even though they knew what they were doing, they didn't get away with anything. All the store owners in the Southwest Eighth Street strip mall think Game Stop was the ultimate target, as the store is filled with Xbox, Wii and PlayStation consoles.
"They tried to come in through the Game Stop," says Vizcaya.
Raulin Alcover, the Game Stop manager, agreed.
"It's just the area, you know. It's the area so, I mean, it attracts it, and obviously this is going to be the best target for them. They're not going to take nail polish or anything like that, you know," Alcover said.