SAN ANTONIO – Customers of a West Side storage facility say they are frustrated after the second burglary within weeks at the business.
San Antonio police say a passerby notified them of the latest break-in around 6 a.m. Tuesday at Otter Storage, located in the 2400 block of SW Loop 410.
RELATED: Man, woman arrested after break-in at West Side storage facility, police say
Lisa Wright found out on her way to work when she noticed police cars on the property.
She says she is storing most of what she owns there while her home undergoes renovations.
I have a brand new sofa set in there, brand new kitchen table,” Wright said. “All my decor, my grandmother’s stuff, my mother’s stuff.”
She stood by nervously as officers walked up and down the aisles of the fenced-in, outdoor facility.
Wright was not able to find out right away whether her unit had been hit.
Other customers also wandered by as the news spread, not sure what they had lost to the burglars.
Property from the storage units was left scattered across the parking lot. (KSAT 12 News)
Police say the criminals hit dozens of units, somehow gaining entry and leaving property discarded in the parking lot.
They say they arrested a man in his 20s and a woman in her 30s who they caught rummaging through some of the units.
However, police could not say whether the pair was responsible for the actual break-in, or if they had come along later. They were not sure whether security cameras at the facility were working.
signs posted around the property warn of surveillance cameras operating 24 hours per day. However, police were not sure if they were working at the time of the break-ins. (KSAT 12 News)
Both Wright and police say this is the second time in less than a month that the storage facility has been targeted.
As KSAT 12 News reported previously, police arrested two men who were suspected of burglarizing numerous storage units at the facility August 14.
“Last time, they smashed a lady’s urns and she was sitting on the ground, picking up her parents’ ashes and putting them into an HEB bag,” Wright said.
After that first burglary, Wright said she wanted to move what was left of her property out of the storage unit, but the company stopped her.
She said Otter Storage had hired a security guard who wouldn’t let anyone enter the property even after police had completed their investigation.
“They had chains on the gate,” she said. “They wouldn’t let you get in.”
She and other customers say they are wondering what will happen now.
Although Wright says she has not been able to get access to her possessions, she says she has continued to pay her storage fees. She says she fears the company might seize her property if she doesn’t.
Even after a call to Otter Storage’s corporate office, KSAT 12 News could not get any clear answers.
A supervisor who would identify himself only as “Brendan” said the company would not be commenting due to an ongoing police investigation.
When pressed about solutions for customers who want to retrieve their property, he again refused to answer, then hung up.