CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A longtime business owner spent much of his Thanksgiving morning picking up the pieces of an aggressive burglary that left tire tracks and shattered glass inside his store.
“Looks like they backed their truck all the way into the store (and) tore the front of the building off,” said Bob Clawson, owner of Clawson’s Music, a store that's been in business for 58 years.
He got a got a call from the Corpus Christi Police Department around 9 a.m. today, he said.
“They broke the front of the building out — where most of the high dollar guitars were at,” Clawson said, gesturing to a fallen wall. “They tore all that down — all this fell on top of the guitars and it’s a pretty big mess.”
A spokesman for CCPD was not able to provide any information in connection to the burglary.
Clawson estimates as many as six accordions were stolen.
“It seems to be the only thing missing right now,” he said. “We haven’t looked real good, but what the damage did, the damage just tore up some expensive guitars — I mean, it tore up everything.”
He adds that the destruction to his store has set him back much further financially.
“I would have given them the accordions rather than want this damage,” he said, estimating the damage to be anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000. “I’m sure someone came in and scouted it out, looked at everything and saw what they wanted to get it so when they drove the truck in, they went and got that.”
He said the timing was also disappointing.
“Of course, right here at Thanksgiving — everybody’s off and everybody’s gone,” Clawson said. “So it was a shock.”
Although it has not yet been provided to KRIS 6, Clawson is hoping that surveillance footage will lead to an arrest.
“I hope the community looks at all of this and everything and knows someone that took them,” he said. “We have a video of the truck and everything and I hope that they know the truck.”
This isn’t the first time Clawson’s Music has been burglarized.
According to previous reports, in 2007, there was a smash-and-grab in which thieves made off with two $3,300 Gabbanelli accordions and three other accordions.
In 2015, a thief stole two accordions valued at more than $10,000 from the store.
Still, Clawson is trying to be positive. Their storefront is now temporarily repaired, and he plans to reopen tomorrow at 10 a.m., with discounts for some of those guitars caught up in the wreckage.
“You need to put positive to everything,” Clawson said. “You can’t let anything pull you down. We’ll regroup from this and will be open Friday.”
