Thieves fail at another attempted smash and grab in Detroit

It appears no small business in the Detroit area is safe after yet ANOTHER business is the victim of a smash and grab. This time, it was a liquor store on Detroit's east side but the thieves ran out empty handed.

John Masord owns AAA Liquor on Detroit's east side and spent Tuesday cleaning up and dealing with major damage to the front door of his 23-year-old business.

"This is very strong. I don't know how they break this one," Masord said.

Across the city, there have been almost 50 smash-and-grabs since February. AAA Liquor is the latest one hit and Masord walked up to see his front door was smashed in.

"I go home at one o'clock, I went to sleep at 1:30. The alarm called me at 4:45, 4:46. I gear up and come back up," Masord said. "This happen to too many places down here."

The criminals were on surveillance video driving a white truck and scoping out the store. One appeared to be a lookout while the driver tried to ram the truck through the front door. Masord things the alarm likely scared them off.

"I think it's not our customers. This is not from around here - it's from a different area."

Masord is of course relieved the thieves were scared off by that alarm and that they didn't get away with anything. However, Masord will still have to pay to replace the door - which will cost him about $2,000 .

"The police, they make a report, they give me a report number and everything. They say it's happened too many times. I say well you have to to have some kind of a solution for this," Masord said.

Masord is not the only victim in the area. Nino's market is just a mile and a half away and was hit just a day ago.

The thieves were in a blue truck that time and stole Patron and cigarettes while causing $16,000 dollars in damage. 

Detroit police said Tuesday that they believe two crews are committing the majority of these  crimes and are specifically targeting liquor and grocery stores and pharmacies. Police say they've made seven arrests and know some of the other men they're looking for. 

However, Detroit business owners say that's not enough and are demanding more cops on patrol to catch these crooks.

"You have to catch those people. If you're not gonna catch those people, they're gonna keep going," Masord said.