56 self-storage units were broken into over the course of one night, according to The Grand Rapids Police Department in Michigan. The burglaries happened Wednesday at Kent County Self Storage on 28th Street SE. Damages are currently being assessed by investigators.
“We had three victims on scene at the time, they were going through their storage units… Unfortunately, we've netted over $50-thousand in losses and that's just from three units,” Captain Terry Dixon, a public information officer with the Grand Rapids Police Department noted. “This is a pretty significant burglary.”
The complex does have security measures in place. The property is surrounded by a tall metal fence, which can only be accessed only via a sliding wrought iron gate at the entrance. Surveillance cameras had also been installed on every building.
How the burglars managed to gain access and remain inside long enough to accomplish their thievery is still under investigation. “That main gate was not damaged,” Dixon related. “However, we did notice damage to the garage doors that were kind of pulled up from the bottom right."
Police suspect that there was more than one criminal, and that they used a special tool to access the units, peeling the blue roll gates back "like sardine cans."
No arrests have been made at this time and investigators have not yet identified the suspected burglars. Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact Grand Rapids police at 616-456-3380 or Silent Observer at 616-774-2345 or www.silentobserver.org.
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