Early morning burglaries caught on camera

It takes just eight seconds. Around 5:00 a.m. August 31, 2018, a burglar shatters the window of Bangkok Cuisine on South Virginia Street and goes directly for the iPad at the front counter, then takes off as the alarm goes off.

Just about 4 hours earlier, a few blocks away, a similar crime at Walden's Coffeehouse on Wells Avenue near Vassar Street. Reno Police responded to an alarm after someone broke a front window to get in. Once again, that burglar only takes the iPad, which is part of the register system. But the burglar drops and breaks it in the parking lot as police arrive.

"They tried to get him but he ran off in the alley," says Tony Barone, Walden's Coffeehouse owner. He says this kind of thing is frustrating.

"We want to be a service to the community here and we have enough to do," he says. "And when these incidents come up, it just makes it a little harder."

It's not the first time something like this has happened at the small shopping center on Wells Avenue. It's actually the fourth time this summer.

The owner of Reno Computer Fix shows off surveillance video of one of the two times his business was burglarized this summer. In both instances, the burglar took off with the computers in the front.

"It's the same M.O.," says Justin Pederson, owner of Reno Computer Fix. "They break the window-- the small window by the door-- and then they come in and it's just a smash and grab. Whatever they see and run out."

At the end of the shopping center, the Blue was broken into the same way. Surveillance video from the salon shows the crook used a tool to shatter the small window in the front before entering the shop just to take the cell phone on the front desk.

"They're obviously after our cute little area in town," says Doreen Wetzel, who works at Blue.

No one has been arrested in the burglaries and while the burglar or burglars may only be after small items, the people who work in the area want police to know these crimes are a big deal to them.

"Take it serious," says Wetzel. "We're small businesses here and we're just coming up. This is a great part of town. We want to keep it that way."