The James family has lived in their South Lubbock neighborhood at the 4400 block of 108th street since 2004, and say not once have they ever encountered any type of suspicious activity.

Now, however, they’re keeping their guard up after the storage unit behind their home was broken into in the middle of the day Tuesday, May 17. Fortunately for the homeowners, it was all caught on their surveillance camera.

“My wife got in about four o’ clock after work and she noticed the storage doors were open, which is not normal. So, she gets out and starts looking, and the mower’s gone, the weed eater is gone,” said Richie James. “She called me to ask if I had done anything with the mower or let anyone borrow it, I said ‘no.’ That’s when she went back and checked our security camera.”

The cameras show just before 2 p.m. on Tuesday a red car pulling up in the back alley behind the residence. The car parks, a man in a construction vest exits, and calmly walks out of the camera’s shot toward the direction of where the James’ storage unit is. It is then that James believes the suspect breaks the lock on the door of his storage unit. The suspect later comes back into the shot lifting a lawn mower into the car. 

The car is believed to be a 2003 Oldsmobile Alero.  

The suspect appears to return back to the storage unit and then load a weed eater into the car, and drives away. A short while later he is back in the shot, this time walking through the alley way, writing on a white piece of paper.

“You feel like you’ve been violated when you watch the security footage because this guy was calm and cool took his time he was looking over everybody’s fence. He had a list that he was making notes of to come back later and what to get,” said James. 

Lubbock Police say it may have been possible that the man was working at a construction site near the neighborhood.

“I don’t think anybody actually planned on this burglary especially wearing a safety vest that grabs people’s attention, so this is a rare situation,” said Lt. Ray Mendoza, the public information officer for LPD. “I can tell this was pretty brazen in the middle of the afternoon, so that alone says to me they were going to do their burglary no matter what.” 

James says he hopes what happened to his family serves as a reminder to his neighbors and other homeowners to keep their garages down and belongings safe and secure. He also adds that downloading the “Nextdoor” app to his phone has helped get the word out on the incident and details about the suspect and the suspect’s vehicle. 

“I received back probably 30 different ‘thank you’s’ from just Sun Crest area thanking me for putting it on there, for having footage of it and having the details of the car and the make and model and the time of day and everything captured. So that app I think is very valuable. I wasn’t on there before, I’m on there now.”

Lt. Mendoza says a detective has been assigned to the case. If you think you may have any possible tips as to who this suspect may be, you are encouraged to call the LPD Crime Line at 741-1000.