A gas station convenience store cashier has shared the moment a woman's car was stolen in a matter of a minute, eliciting a simple warning: "Lock your car."
Harmanjeet Singh, who uses the TikTok name @atx.harman, works at a 7/11 in Austin, Texas and gained over 1.6 million views on his clip of surveillance footage.
Cameras managed to capture the moment a man casually stole a customer's car, after she chose to leave the car running while she shopped.
"C'mon people, lock your damn cars, even if you think you're only going to be there for a minute, lock them because that's all it takes," he advised in the background of the video.
After the driver exited the car and entered the shop, the video showed the man approaching the car with his hood up, facing away from the camera. "Mam you need to hurry up whatever you're buying," narrated Singh.
"This guy, he was waiting for her as if a stalking ex-boyfriend and she probably got that car from him and left his broke ass, and now he's on the streets and he comes out of nowhere," he imagined.
@atx.harman That window roll tho🙄🙄#austintexas #conveniencestore #7eleven
♬ original sound - Harmanjeet Singh
The man casually opened and entered the car with ease and reversed out of the space, before swiftly driving away. "He's outta here," said Singh.
As noted by the cashier, the thief even used the turning signal while driving onto the road, likely in a bid to ensure he doesn't get pulled over while driving a stolen car.
A following clip showed the car owner realizing her car was gone, walking in circles while talking on the phone before running off. "Should have locked the damn thing," he advised.
"This lady wasn't even upset at the car being taken, she was more upset about the plant based stuff that she had in the car which is why she was here because you know she got the munchies in the middle of the night," Singh claimed in the video.
The specific car in the video was a KIA, but according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, it doesn't make the list of most stolen vehicles in the U.S. In 2020, the Ford Full Size Pick Up topped the list as the most stolen car, followed by the Chevrolet Full Size Pick Up and the Honda Civic.
According to the NICB, 2020 also saw the most vehicle thefts in over a decade. Beginning in June 2020, the United States experienced a 13 percent increase in auto thefts, with 41 states in the U.S. facing an increase from the previous year, a pattern that followed into 2021.
Singh's videos are even further proof of the increase, with the cashier uploading a second video showing an almost identical situation.
The car thieves backed up into a space in their own separate cars first, which the owner explained is a dead giveaway that they are likely to be planning on stealing something, angling their cars as easy as possible to drive away after.
After noticing the driver leave their car running, one entered into the store to keep lookout, while the other drove off to park the car down the road, returning to enter the vehicle and drive it away.
"You should have locked your car," he once again advised.
@atx.harman Reply to @eltirib Older post.. hoping tiktok leaves it alone..!!!#funnyvideo #austintexas #7eleven #gonerogue
♬ original sound - Harmanjeet Singh
