Video captured the moment a group of suspects allegedly stole $1,600 worth of laundry detergent and other goods from a Connecticut grocery store.
The alleged theft occurred around 6:40 a.m. Tuesday at Market 32 grocery store in the Quarry Walk Plaza in Oxford, Connecticut, according to a press release from Oxford Resident Trooper’s Office.
Video obtained by WFSB shows the suspects allegedly moving numerous bottles of laundry detergent and other goods, including paper towels, from shopping carts into two different vehicles. Once the carriages were empty, and the cars were full, the alleged suspects sped off through the parking lot.
“That why prices go up because of these [unknown expletive,]” one bystander says in the video. “Can’t get a job like the rest of us.”
Police said some $1,600 worth of product was allegedly shoplifted from the grocery store, according to Fox 61.
The Oxford Resident Trooper’s Office responded to the store around 6:45 a.m. but said no one called police while the alleged larceny was in progress.
“A 911 call was never placed and the call came in through the routine phone line at the Oxford Resident Trooper’s Office approximately 10-minutes after the crime had already occurred,” the press release states.
“We saw in this case that the 911 call could have been crucial,” Sgt. John Acampora of the Connecticut State Police said, according to NBC CT. “Those are crucial minutes that were lost. That routine call proved to be detrimental for us stopping them in the act or at least attempting to intervene.”
“Never engage with any people who are committing this type of behavior. There’s an age-old saying of, ‘See something, say something,'” added Acampora.
Police say they have identified two of the suspects but cannot release their identities amid the ongoing investigation, according to Fox 61. They stated that at least 2 of the suspects involved in the alleged larceny have carried out other offenses in Connecticut and in other states, according to the outlet. Additionally, authorities believe the vehicles used in the incident were stolen.
“They were organized, they knew what they were doing, they had no plates on the car,” Oxford’s First Selectman George Temple said, per Fox 61.
“Information sharing has developed leads that they are most likely going to be trying to sell those items on social media as well as in their communities that they live in,” said Acampora, per Fox 61.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is encouraged to call the Oxford Resident Trooper’s Office at 203-888-4353.