****UPDATE****
At approximately 9:00 am, Berrien County Sheriff Deputies were able to locate one of the suspect vehicles at a gas station in the City of Benton Harbor, at which time two suspects were detained and arrested on numerous charges related to this incident and an additional unrelated incident. The names of the suspects are being withheld at this time due to the fact that they are juveniles.
****UPDATE****
In a brazen burglary attempt early this morning, a total of nine people smashed their way into the Ace Hardware Store in St. Joseph Township and raced through the store before making a quick escape just minutes later.
St. Joseph Township Police put out an area wide alert for a newer white 4-door Jeep Cherokee and a newer silver 4-door Volvo SUV after the break in shortly before 6am today.
Ace Hardware officials are asking anyone that can positively identify the individuals that committed the crime and ultimately lead to an arrest to please share information with the store or the police and they are offering a $1,000 reward for such information.
Ace posted on its Facebook page that nine individuals threw bricks through the exterior and interior glass doors at 0549 am this morning at the store at 2360 Niles Road in South St. Joseph. They report that surveillance video shows they arrived at 0547 am and quickly left at 0551 am heading southbound on Niles Avenue.
Ace reports, “The individuals were in the store for about one minute until they ran out. Most of the individuals were carrying backpacks. One individual had a white/black Nike sweatshirt with bright red/orange shoes and a pack back with orange/red straps. Another individual had a black sweatshirt with a yellowish/goldish Timberland logo.” The store adds, “All individuals appeared to be younger, probably in their teens and early 20s.”
Exactly what was stolen has not been reported.
St. Joseph Township authorities have not filed their police report at the time of this filing, but you can see multiple other surveillance camera photos from the store at the Ace Facebook page at this link: https://www.facebook.com/aceinstjosephstevensville/
