Thieves steal guitar collection from locked storage unit in Bothell, WA

Guitar collection stolen from Seattle musician

Brazen thieves stole a Seattle musician's collection of guitars right out of his storage unit, and it was all caught on camera.

BOTHELL, Wash. - Brazen thieves stole a man’s guitar collection right out of his Bothell storage unit, and it was all caught on camera.

Why you should care:

FOX 13 talked Tyler Campbell who said despite his efforts to take every precaution, these thieves still got away with his valuables.

Back in February, Campbell was mid-move and says he put his instruments in storage for safe keeping, but security video captured two men stealing his guitars out of his locked storage unit. As the guitar player and singer for the band Nott, his guitar collection is more than just a collection, it’s his passion and livelihood.

"It felt incredibly violating," Campbell said.

Surveillance video shows two men pushing carts into an elevator, topped with what Campbell says are his guitars. "It felt very callous and cold," Campbell said. Both men are seen wearing gloves and ducking their heads to avoid the cameras. One man was wearing a hoodie, and the other a hat.

"There’s like a feeling of helplessness, where you just watch someone, you know, walk in, and they clearly knew what they were doing," Campbell said.

Another camera outside captured the men as they loaded up the stolen instruments into a car and then drove off. "I hope they get what's coming to them," Campbell said. "I hope that they're scared, and I hope that justice gets done, whatever that means."

Campbell told FOX 13 that he installed air tags in his instruments, but nearly seven months later and his guitars are still nowhere to be found.

"I put trackers and I had everything, you know, insured and logged and kept in nice, safe, locked cases, in a locked room in a locked building with cameras, and was only there for a day and a half, and it felt very much like if there were precautions to be made, I’d made them, and still in the matter of 30 minutes, someone just, you know, said nope, and took it all away," Campbell said.

He tracked his guitars to a place in Everett and while police arrived on scene, they weren’t able to retrieve his items because they didn’t have a warrant, Campbell said.

The items stolen were valued at around $11-to-13,000, but his insurance paid him $2,000.00, according to Campbell.

"This was a financial blow," Campbell said. "It affected the band, affected my family emotionally, it was very difficult."

He adds, the storage place where this happened was very sympathetic and apologetic at first and shared the security footage, but nothing has happened since. Campbell has a GoFundMe to help with the losses. 

In the meantime though, he wants to thank the community for all the support. He told FOX 13, people have reached out and allowed him to borrow equipment and instruments, and he’s grateful.

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