Macy’s break-in prompts rooftop search of Sunrise Mall

By Sara Beth Williams–
Two suspects are still at large after breaking into Macy’s Men’s early Monday morning.

After an alarm activated, Citrus Heights Police responded in force to the Sunrise Mall around 4 a.m. Monday morning, April 7, and found two individuals locked inside on the first floor of Macy’s Men’s attempting to evade law enforcement while police watched through the windows, Sgt. David Jones with the Citrus Heights Police Department said Monday afternoon. At least one suspect was observed escaping onto the roof of the Sunrise Mall, prompting police to enter Macy’s through a fire door and search the vacant store.

The police described the two suspects as one Caucasian female in her 50s and one Caucasian male in his 40s.

The search for the suspect who escaped onto the roof was initially partially impeded by early morning rainfall, which prevented the use of a drone, and air support was unavailable at the time of the incident, according to police radio transmissions.

Once all three floors in Macy’s Men’s were cleared, officers searched the rooftop of both Macy’s Men’s and adjacent to the store. A drone was also called in to fly over the top of the mall to search the entire rooftop, police confirmed. Officers also searched the rest of the interior of the mall, but nothing else appeared to be disturbed, Jones said. In all, police said the search lasted about three and a half hours. The Sears building interior was not searched.

“We believe they used another method to come down from the roof,” Jones said, adding that officers did recover burglary tools and stolen merchandise on the roof.

Both Macy’s Men’s and Women’s at Sunrise Mall closed near the end of last month as part of a broader string of closures across the country initiated by Macy’s Inc.

Related: Sunrise Mall loses longtime anchor store as Macy’s shutters—Citrus Heights Sentinel

Jones said the police department has a close relationship with Sunrise MarketPlace and that officers have been tasked with enforcing “behaviors associated with negativity of the area.”