Triangle bars hit by string of break-ins over three days, unclear if connected
Multiple bars have been the target of break-ins in the last 72 hours across the Triangle.
WRAL News received reports that three bars, LouElla Wine, Beer & Beverages and Durham Beer Garden in Durham, and The Bend in Raleigh, were hit by a string of break-ins since this past weekend.
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LouElla, Durham Beer Garden and The Bend posted photos of the damage on their social media pages.
At least two of the robberies seem to have been carried out by the same suspect, just minutes apart in Durham. Both were caught on security cameras, and one bar’s owner even watched the robbery play out live.
“Yep. We were watching him inside the building, stealing money out of the register, then leaving,” said Ann Wagner, co-owner of Durham Beer Garden.
Wagner says she got an alert from her alarm company around 1:47 a.m. Tuesday. She checked her security camera footage from home, where she saw a man in a green shirt and dark shorts with a white bandana over his face inside her store.
“It’s just concerning,” said Wagner. “As a small business owner, you never want to see anything bad happening.” According to Durham Beer Garden, only $200 was stolen from them, and their door was damaged in the break-in.
“While we’re a little shaken, we’re still here and opening as usual today,” LouElla said on Facebook.
WRAL News obtained security camera footage that captured the break-in at LouElla. In the video, a man is seen breaking down the glass of the front door of the business. After he smashes the glass the man, whose face was covered by a white shirt, ran behind the counter, opened the cash register and then ran out of the bar.
“It’s pretty heartbreaking. It’s somebody stepping into your hearts with dirty boots,” said LouElla’s owner, Cam Davis.
Before the break-in, security cameras captured the man outside the bar without the shirt covering his face. No money was taken at LouElla and no one was hurt, but Davis said the door required repairs for the broken glass.
"We're looking at a total amount of about $2,000," Davis said.
WRAL News has reached out to both Raleigh and Durham Police departments to ask whether these incidents are connected, if any suspects have been identified, or any arrests made. So far, neither agency has responded.
Durham Police records show a similiar crime -- broken glass and a stolen tip jar -- happened July 13 at Whisk And Rye on University Drive. There is not a suspect description in that break-in.
The string of break-ins has some other businesses worried.
“It's starting to feel coordinated, or at the very least opportunistic, which is why it’s so unsettling,” wrote Durham Distillery’s Adrianna Freeman.
“Many of us are also tightening up close-of-day protocols, checking security camera setups, and double-checking insurance coverage, though none of that feels like enough in the face of back-to-back incidents,” she wrote.
Ultimately, what was really stolen, Ann Wagner says, may be the welcoming atmosphere she feels Durham has been known for.
After now three robberies at her shop in just the last year, including Tuesday’s, the beer garden co-owner feels she may have no choice but to make a change.
“A lot of the local businesses, like our next door neighbors Little Bull, have started putting bars on their windows, so I hope that’s not next. We want to keep our little beer garden bright and sunny and beautiful, but if we have to, that’s a route we’re willing to go,” said Wagner.
WRAL reporter Shaun Gallagher contributed to this report.
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