A burglary early Monday morning at Charlottesville's Fashion Square Mall left a mess of merchandise in the mall's parking lot and Albemarle county police searching for suspects.
Albemarle County spokeswoman Lee Catlin said the burglars broke into three stores.
"There's several thousand dollars worth of merchandise missing," Catlin said.
Police believe that an undetermined number of individuals entered the mall through an unlocked door, possibly the door under construction next to the Red Robin restaurant.
The burglars damaged display windows and took items from Sea Dream Leather and Foot Locker. They also broke into Belk department store, but it is unclear if the burglars took any items from that store.
As police arrived, several burglars were seen with merchandise clutched in their arms heading toward an undisclosed number of cars.
Although police saw the thieves flee in several vehicles as they arrived, they made no arrests.
Albemarle County Police Lt. John Teixeira said police are working on identifying the suspects, but currently are not releasing descriptions.
Managers at Foot Locker and Sea Dream Leather declined to comment on the incident. Representatives from Belk could not be reached for comment.
An exit door alarm drew Albemarle County Police to the scene at approximately 1:20 a.m. on Monday.
Sea Dream Leather told the Daily Progress that the thieves took 29 leather and wool coats valued at approximately $300 each. However, all but two coats were found in the mall parking lot.
Teixeira confirmed the details of the case, but said the investigation is ongoing.
"I'm not really at liberty to discuss the details right now," he said.
It is unclear exactly how much was stolen from Foot Locker and Belk, who told the Daily Progress that they are still taking inventory.
Catlin said that such a large, elaborate theft is unusual for this area.
"It was pretty brazen," she said. "This is a major investigation for the county."
Police would not comment on the number of security guards working at the time of the break-in, but are reviewing the mall's video surveillance tapes from Monday.
"I think we're making progress," Teixeira said.
Misty Parsons, marketing director for Fashion Square Mall, said the mall is focusing on customer and employee safety in light of the incident.
"Whenever an incident like this occurs in our community, our primary concern is always for the safety of our customers and mall employees," Parsons said. "Although I am unable to discuss specific security procedures, we do take several pro-active security measures including 24-hour security patrol of the mall and the surrounding parking lots."
She added that mall officials cannot release specifics about the incident at this time, but said they believe the break-in will not be repeated.
"In our opinion, this is an isolated incident," she said.
Anyone with information on the burglary is urged to call county Detective Chris Beck at 296-5807 or Crimestoppers at 977-4000.
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