NORCROSS, Ga. — Amid a growing trend of car thefts and break-ins across the metro Atlanta area, a man lost his car.

But, it wasn’t just taken. It was stolen right out of his garage in Gwinnett County.

Car thefts aren’t just a problem in the big city, which Scott Minor found out the hard way after thieves stole his SUV from his garage.

Channel 2′s Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson learned the crime happened in the middle of the day.

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Police say they’re still looking for whoever tried to steal the vehicle.

After the car was stolen, police said it was totaled minutes later in a wreck.

Surveillance footage shows someone sneak into Minor’s garage while wearing gloves, then steal his SUV.

“That’s pretty bold,” Minor said. “Takes a lot of guts to get up in somebody’s garage.”

The video shows the thief back the SUV out of the driveway at Minor’s home in Norcross, right off West Peachtree Street and speed off, all in about 30 seconds.

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Minor said he “walked out into the garage and the car was gone.”

He and his wife were in their home last Sunday when it happened. He’d left the keys in the car because they were about to leave.

“Some people had said, ‘Well you know, it’s a good thing you didn’t have a gun, you could have shot him,’” Minor said. “Well, you know, on the contrary, you know, the other hand is I could have been shot too.”

Police told Channel 2 Action News that the thief was in such a rush to get to Holcomb Bridge Road that he took the wrong way on a neighborhood street and crashed into an oncoming car.

While the thief didn’t stick around, when officers arrived on the scene, the found the stolen car so damaged that it was totaled.

Police say the thief is still on the run.

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“The car was trashed, more or less,” Minor said.

In Norcross, recent crime data shows car break-ins more than tripled in June. Compared to the month before, thefts went up 56%, following trends happening in larger cities like Atlanta.

Minor said he hopes thieves will someday face tougher sentences when they’re caught.

“Thieves feel emboldened by this, and until that changes, I think it’s gonna get worse,” Minor said.

Neighbors told Channel 2 Action News that they’re taking extra steps like making sure their garage doors are closed during the day and making sure their cars are locked due to the rise in break-ins and thefts.

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