5 Lincolnton businesses burglarized Monday night

Investigators believe at least two people broke into five businesses over the course of a few hours in downtown Lincolnton late Monday night.

Police spent the day searching for clues on East Main Street.

Chris Tabor’s family print screening shop was among the businesses hit by the thieves.

“I have a hard time raising my five kids and this don’t help none,” he said.

The burglars shattered his glass door, ripped apart his desk drawers and “went through my ceiling tiles attempting to get into the jewelry store next door to me,” he said.

The fire wall stopped the burglars.

The police chief assured Tabor that his officers are working to solve the bold series of break-ins. The crooks also tried to steal a safe from One Financial on the other side of Tabor’s shop.

They also broke into an insurance company, a furniture seller and a vacuum store.

Only one of the five businesses has an alarm.

"We very rarely have a break in at businesses downtown. This is kind of odd," said Sgt. Matt Painter with Lincolnton police.

Police are still concerned even though the burglars, who appeared to be looking for cash, did not get any.

“When a person works that hard and doesn't get anything of value, they are going to keep breaking in," Painter said.

Detectives do have a clue, however.

A trail of blood from the shattered glass may be enough to analyze to get an ID.

Police will go to neighboring businesses to see if any of them had an outside camera trained at the right angle to give them a clear picture of what their burglars look like.