Tennessee Shoppers Trap Nashville Perfumania Burglars Inside Store

US News

By Stephen Sorace, Fox News

A group of passersby outside a Tennessee store tried to trap a group of suspected burglars inside until police could arrive, according to video of the incident on social media.

Shoppers at Tanger Outlets in Nashville's Antioch neighborhood recorded video of four suspected burglars wearing hoodies and medical masks cornered at a Perfumania store.

The shoppers were outside the store and held the front door closed, trapping the suspects inside.

The video shows the suspected burglars trying to open the back door with a stepladder in an attempt to escape. When they fail to break down the door, the video shows them breaking the wall next to the back door with the stepladder.

The video ends abruptly as the suspects remain in the store.

The group of bystanders told WSMV-TV they held the front door closed until Metro Nashville police arrived 30 minutes later.

Witnesses told the outlet that the suspects had already fled out the back of the store by the time officers arrived.

A witness described to the station how the alleged burglary happened before employees and shoppers ran out of the store.

“(They) were trying to run into the store, break into the cash register, break the glass, take all the cologne off the shelves and stuff,” a witness named Preston told WSMV-TV about the suspected burglars.

Preston said mall security told him the suspects jumped a fence after going through the back of the store and running toward Interstate 24.

“The other people seemed really upset because they live in the area,” Preston told WSMV. They're just upset that it happens so often.