Burglars drive van into appliance store, leave empty-handed

Burglars drove a van through the doors of a north suburban appliance store early Tuesday in an attempted smash-and-grab heist, only to be thwarted by a store worker, police said.

According to Glenview police, two vans — one full size and one minivan — carrying four men pulled into the Abt Electronics parking lot at 1200 Milwaukee Ave. at 5:38 a.m. Tuesday.

One of the men drove the full-size van into the building through exterior and interior sets of glass doors, police said. Once the doors were breached, all four men ran into the store, where they were confronted by an employee.

After being confronted, the men ran out of the business empty-handed and sped away in the minivan, police said.

Michael Lopez, director of financial crimes at Abt, said the men came through a merchandise pick-up area.

“We have employees here 24 hours a day, so they saw our employees and ended up taking off, so the robbery was a fail,” Lopez said. “They did not get any merchandise and no employees were hurt. We have the vehicle on camera but it did not have a license plate.”

Glenview police said no suspects have been identified as of yet, but they were reviewing in-store surveillance videotape provided by Abt.

The full-size van left at the scene was confirmed to be stolen, police said.

Authorities didn't have any information about the getaway vehicle, and said the break-in remains under investigation.