ST. CHARLES, Mo. – For the second time in less a month, thieves targeted a St. Charles strip mall by trying to ram a vehicle into a store.
St. Charles Police say the criminals used a stolen 2017 white Hyundai Elantra and rammed the car into two of the rear doors at Metal Oak Casting. The suspects did not get into the store and nothing was taken from the store.
Crews spent the day boarding up and securing the area after the early morning break-in attempt. The car used in the incident was stolen early Friday morning from the 500 block of Glenco, just minutes down the road.
The Metal Oak Casting store makes figurines for games like Dungeons and Dragons. Investigatros say criminals might have mistakenly targeted the wrong businsess.
“I don’t know, it’s kind of creepy, that’s all,” said Hector Laracuente, a cook at Duchesne Bar and Grill nearby. “They went through the wrong door, that’s all.”
Just last month, on Oct. 7, St. Charles Police said a stolen 2013 Hyundai Elantra was used to try and ram through the front door of Kevin’s Guns in the same strip mall. That car was stolen from the same street, the 600 block of Glenco.
“They tried to do that with a vehicle in front of the gun store, but they had those concrete pillars that stopped them, and then they ran off or whatever they did,” said Laracuente.
Just a few doors down at the Duchesne Bar and Grill, Laracuente was aware of last month’s attempt.
“It’s frustrating,” said Laracuente. “Extremely frustrating. Kind of spooky and extremely frustrating. The girls are kind of freaked out. We’re a little bit more aware of stuff. It is definitely frustrating.”
St. Charles Police have not yet confirmed whether Friday morning’s attempted entry near the gun store is connected with that attempted robbery on Oct. 7. An investigation is ongoing into both thefts.