PORTER | A smash-and-grab burglar made off with 100 cartons of cigarettes from Porter Quick Stop on Tuesday morning.
Porter police responded to a burglar alarm at 3:56 a.m. Tuesday and discovered the glass door had been broken and the cigarette carton rack was cleared. Police said they arrived within a minute of receiving the call, but the burglar was gone.
A police canine tracked the burglar's scent to a parking lot near Splash Down Dunes, Detective Mike Veal said. Veal said the burglar apparently fled on foot to the parking lot, then drove away.
Veal said store surveillance video shows a scenes from the burglary. Police said they hope to be able to release a photograph of the burglar so the public can help identify him.
Veal said the claw hammer used to break into the business was left behind, and was taken as evidence. The loss from the burglary is about $4,000.
Veal said there have been rashes of smash-and-grab burglaries in recent years, including one at the same business about three years ago. He is not aware of other smash-and-grab burglaries having occurred recently in other jurisdictions.
