Crooks target mom and son owned Seattle trading card shop

Crooks target mom and son owned Seattle trading card shop

A thief smashed into a small business owned by a local mom and son in West Seattle, with the whole break-in caught on camera.

SEATTLE - Surveillance video captured a crook breaking into a local, family-owned business, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage and getting away with a trove of Magic: The Gathering cards.

The backstory:

Around 2 a.m. Monday morning, Laura Schneider watched in real time as a thief ransacked her family business.

Schneider is part owner, along with her son, of Meeples Games in West Seattle.

Her phone notified her that someone had broken into their business Monday morning.

"It’s a gut-wrenching feeling. It’s happened before, but I’ve never actually witnessed it happening," she said. 

Schneider tells FOX 13 Seattle the crook smashed their way through Meeples Games glass door and stole Magic: The Gathering cards, boxes of Warhammer packs, sodas, and a 2-foot Star Wars Stormtrooper figure, but Schneider no longer leaves the expensive collectibles out overnight in the store.

"We started putting this stuff away the first time we got broken into – which was 2015 I think. Every night we put it away and every day we put it back," said Schneider.

Video shows the crook who broke into Meeples Games throwing stolen items from the second floor down to a truck parked below, where an accomplice helped secure the pilfered property.

Schneider hopes sharing her story helps other small business owners avoid a similar scenario.

"Ideally that they would catch these people, and they would be prosecuted, because I am 100% sure this is not the first time and the first business they have attempted to get into."

Schneider tells FOX 13 that Seattle Police responded to the scene within a few minutes of the break-in.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police.

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