Break-in on Van Campen Blvd. caught on camera

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - A break-in outside of Jazzy’s Party Rentals and Decorations was caught on camera Monday morning.

Owner Linda Agustin says neighboring security cameras caught a single person attempting to break into two of the company’s box trucks around 3 a.m. Monday.

She said the person was wearing a white hoodie and had a book bag with them.

“One of them was completely broken in the windows, the side doors. The other one, they tried to open it and hotwire it, but because it was open, they didn’t have to break the windows. We called the police and thank God the neighbors in front of us have the cameras that they were able to catch a little bit of who did it,” Agustin said.

Augustin filed a police report Monday and officers came out to the scene to test for fingerprints on the vehicles.

“The police were thinking they were trying to hotwire it with the intent of taking it,” Augustin said.

There was no sign the vandal attempted to break into the back of the trucks.

“People have told me ‘Maybe you were just being targeted, obviously someone wanted to hurt your business,’ but we don’t want to think that. We want to think it’s just someone random," she said. "The box truck has our name all over it. It’s definitely not something you can hide, it’s a big old truck.”

Augustin said they are waiting for their insurance agent to come out and assess the damage, but need to get the vehicles fixed by later in the week in order to be able to conduct regular business.

“We’ve got to get it fixed before Friday because we have to start running on Friday for sure," she said. “We would definitely find ways to do it. Maybe rent a U-Haul, we have friends that run business too and they have box trucks so they even offered to let us use theirs if we need it but it just put stress on the family it is a family-owned business.”

Augustin said she has felt safe at her store on Van Campen Blvd. for the past few years, but now feels uncomfortable and is being more cautious.

“I’m here by myself, I thought this was a very safe area. Wal-Mart is right across there, Cracker Barrel is behind me. So we didn’t think something like this would happen around, but obviously it did,” she said.

Copyright 2020 WECT. All rights reserved.