‘Tens of thousands’ in losses after burglars sawed hole through roof of Bluffton Best Buy
In a “Mission: Impossible”-style operation, a group of burglars stole a fortune’s worth of electronics from the Best Buy store in Bluffton on a late night over the holiday weekend. The unidentified thieves reportedly sawed holes in the building’s roof so one suspect could descend into the store, accessing multiple security cages full of pricey products.
Surveillance video from the business on Fording Island Road shows an extension ladder being lowered through a hole in the Best Buy’s ceiling around 11:50 p.m. on July 4. A suspect wearing “all dark clothing, a hat, mask and gloves” was seen climbing down the ladder and using a power saw to cut holes into four locked security cages that were bolted to the back wall, according to an incident report from the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
The suspect then began handing items from the boxes — including iPads, Apple Watches and laptops — to a second suspect on the roof. By the time the thief climbed back outside through the hole about an hour later, the pair had stolen an estimated “tens of thousands of dollars” in electronics, the store manager told deputies.
Arriving around 7:20 a.m. the next morning, the manager discovered the scene of the burglary, including the suspects’ ladder, which was still standing on top of the ransacked cages. He immediately notified police.
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While scoping out the building Friday morning, Beaufort County deputies found a second hole that was cut into the roof of the store’s installation bay, located behind the main showroom. “It appears the suspects cut that hole first, were not able to make entry, then cut the hole where entry was made,” the officer noted in the report.
Staff from the Best Buy store had not updated police with a complete list of stolen products as of Monday afternoon, according to sheriff’s office spokesperson Sgt. Danny Allen. Some of the items likely had not yet been inventoried, meaning an exact amount in losses would be difficult to calculate.
This story was originally published July 9, 2024 at 8:27 AM.
