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Chicago car dealership owner blasts Lightfoot after brazen daytime robbery
While Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot presides over a crime surge in Chicago, the owner of an exotic car dealership in the city said he's had "enough" after smash-and-grab thieves struck his business in a brazen daytime robbery.
CHICAGO - While Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot presides over a crime surge in Chicago, the owner of an exotic car dealership in the city told "Fox & Friends" Monday he's had "enough" after smash-and-grab thieves struck his business in a brazen daytime robbery.
"This happened in broad daylight on Saturday. And they have people come and break into your store while there are customers shopping and there are children in there," said Gold Coast Exotic Motor Cars owner Joe Perillo.
Two men reportedly entered the dealership, which boasts a showroom of Lamborghinis and Bentleys, around noon on Saturday. One man was armed with a gun and stood by the entrance of the dealership while the other man used a hammer to smash display cases and allegedly stole about eight luxury watches, Fox 32 reported.
Perillo explained to host Brian Kilmeade he was "enraged" about what happened to his shop.
"My partner’s children came to visit him and his wife. And here comes two guys, one carrying a gun. I got there just after it happened. And the news media was on the way. I was so amped up. I had so much anger in me," Perillo said, calling out the Democrat mayor and Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx for rising crime in the city.
The watches were stolen in a matter of seconds and worth millions of dollars, according to the store.
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Over $1M in watches stolen from Chicago high-end car dealership: 'Enough is enough'
Joe Perillo, co-owner of Gold Coast Exotic Motor Cars, joins Good Day Chicago to talk about how his business was looted and what needs to be done about the rash of burgalries across the city.
About 10 customers, including children, were in the showroom at the time of the robbery. Some employees tried to chase the suspects, but to no avail.
Police are investigating and still searching for the men responsible. The showroom is now operating on an appointment-only basis.
Smash-and-grab mob lootings have unfolded in California repeatedly in recent weeks, with the crimes concentrating in Los Angeles and the San Francisco area. Chicago has also seen similar incidents, including along the city’s Magnificent Mile and on the Near North Side at retailers such as a Canada Goose store and Foot Locker.
Perillo said he voted for Lightfoot, but won't support her again.
"When I went on the news, I said enough is enough. Those two words resonated. The phone calls started ringing in my dealership. My friends, relatives, people that I didn’t know. People that could get a hold of my number and they were saying enough is enough. I never realized that it has gotten to such a boiling point and no one stepping out to say anything about it."
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Joe Perillo
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has come under fire for suggesting retail stores are to blame for the crimes, saying she’s "disappointed" that stores "are not doing more to take safety and make it a priority."
"We also got to push retailers. Some of the retailers downtown and [on] Michigan Avenue, I will tell you, I'm disappointed that they are not doing more to take safety and make it a priority. For example, we still have retailers that won't institute plans like having security officers in their stores, making sure that they've got cameras that are actually operational, locking up their merchandise at night. Chaining high-end bags, these purses seem to be something that is attracting a lot of attention on these organized retail theft units," Lightfoot said last week.