Victim pulls gun on thieves breaking into car, police say crime on rise

ATLANTA - Atlanta police are reminding people to hide valuables and lock their car doors.

Officials report an uptick in reported car break-ins.

“They get lucky a lot but eventually their luck will run out,” one business owner said.

Bold thieves might have met their match when they ran into this business owner tired of the crime.

“On the weekends they hit about seven to eight,” the man said.

The man doesn’t want his name used but said it’s happening near parking lots on Marietta Street in northwest Atlanta near the aquarium.

The business owner installed a surveillance system that captured a video of a man attempting to break into his car.

“He pulled up and got out of the car and left the door open. He started walking around the parking lot looking at the cars there that day,” The Business Owner said.

What the thief didn’t know was he was being watched by the car’s owner who has had enough.

“I came out and as soon as I saw him get by my car I pulled my gun out and pointed it at him. I yelled, ‘Hey what are you doing? Get out of here!’ And he started running,” The Man said.

According to a police report, another car was broken into the next parking lot and thieves were able to get away with the driver's gun.

“I’ve seen people get their cars taken. I’ve seen bags taken.  Everything you can think of gets taken here,” the man said.

Police said it doesn’t take long for it to happen either.

“They use a tool to break the window easily. It takes one second to break the window and they are in,” the man said.

WATCH: FOX 5 Atlanta live news coverage

Atlanta police have ramped their online campaign in hopes to encourage people not to leave valuables.

“Never leave anything in your car. That’s the number one thing. If you have even a plastic bag full of things they will want your plastic bag just to see what’s in it,” the man said.

According to Atlanta police, as of October 27, there have been 935 guns stolen from cars this year. Officials project by the end of the year there will be over 7,500 thefts from cars.