Two people broke into a Camaro in Elk Grove Village early Wednesday morning, but they fled before they could get inside or steal the car after the homeowner confronted them from inside the house. Police said they responded at 4:52 a.m. to a disturbance in the 200 block of Wildwood Road after a caller reported that someone had broken into a car parked in the driveway.
The homeowner said he banged on a window from inside the house and scared the suspects away. Surveillance video he shared appears to show two people in hoodies walking toward the Camaro, breaking a window and then running off on foot after being confronted. Police said the suspects broke a window but did not get into the car.
The case matters because it lands in a community where the homeowner says vehicle thefts and break-ins have been rising, especially around Camaros. He pointed to recent thefts from a dealership showroom at 175 North Arlington Heights Road and said one of his neighbors had a vehicle repeatedly targeted before it was eventually stolen from the driveway. He also said police were able to recover fingerprints as evidence in his case.
That larger pattern is now what investigators are looking at. Police said they are checking whether the Wednesday morning incident reflects a broader increase in burglary activity in Elk Grove Village, a question raised by the speed of the attack and the fact that the suspects appear to have been willing to smash a window even with a house occupied just feet away.
For the homeowner, the scene was over in seconds, but it fit a fear he said has been building for weeks: that thieves are working the same neighborhood and returning to the same type of car. Police have not said whether the Camaro episode is linked to other recent break-ins, but they are treating the possibility seriously as they review the evidence and the surveillance video.
