ST. LOUIS — St. Louis police are investigating several break-ins that happened in Soulard overnight.
After more than 20 years in business, Big Daddy’s has become a Soulard staple.
However, Big Daddy’s owner Jon Vieluf says that wasn’t enough to keep someone from throwing a brick through the window early this morning and helping themselves to the cash register.
“I woke up to my phone having a lot of missed calls from the alarm company,” Vieluf said.
Around 4:45 in the morning, surveillance cameras caught the moment the two thieves broke into Big Daddy’s and quickly worked their way from the bar into Vieluf’s office.
“We have registers ready for the next day,” Vieluf said. “It’s not a lot of money, but they took that and basically trashed the place and broke a bunch of equipment.”
The suspects were caught on camera fleeing Big Daddy’s in a Hyundai before it’s believed they broke into 1860’s Saloon, Molly’s in Soulard, and Bogart’s Smokehouse, where they stole a few bottles of booze before returning to Big Daddy’s.
“They came back 10 minutes later, came in the same way, I believe they were armed,” Vieluf said. “The second time they came, when he came in the front door, it looked like he had a handgun on him.”
Vieluf said it took roughly a half an hour for police to show up after his silent alarm was tripped.
“The time frame is a concern,” Vieluf said. “I’m pro police. I’m very highly pro police, but that’s concerning.”
5 on Your Side asked St. Louis police Capt. Angela Dickerson if she had any answers about what caused the delayed response.
“I can’t really definitively answer that,” Capt. Angela Dickerson said. “You said it happened at 4:45, it goes through our dispatching and then it’s dispatched. I can’t really answer that or how many cars we had in service at that time.”
"It's not normal around here,” Vieluf said. “It should not be accepted. Let's just say that there should be justice for all of this, and people should be held accountable for their actions."
If you recognize those suspects, or the getaway car, click here to contact St. Louis police.