AUSTIN (KXAN) — Surveillance footage showed masked thieves smash through a window of the Austin School of Film recently, a nonprofit art, film and technical institute in east Austin.
“It’s just truly disturbing,” said Faiza Kracheni, the school’s executive director. The video also shows one of the suspects waving at the camera as they leave.
She said the burglary happened last month and the suspects stole old film equipment that the school had inside the front entrance as decoration.
“Although they didn’t have much monetary value, they were vintage cameras,” Kracheni said.
She quickly found out she wasn’t alone. The Austin Police Department (APD) confirmed it’s investigating similar cases at other production businesses.
Additionally, the Austin Film Commission said several businesses have reported similar incidents, and the commission is now urging others to keep an eye on online marketplaces to see if any of the gear pops up there.
“Being a nonprofit and getting burglarized and having things taken, that can actually impact our ability to serve the community,” Kracheni said.
The police department said there’s no surveillance video in some of the other cases APD is investigating, so they have no leads to follow up on. APD recommends installing cameras with 2K-4K resolution to increase the availability of evidence.