Mobile police are asking residents to help identify a man suspected of breaking into a used car dealership on Springhill Avenue and stealing a haul of tools and shop equipment.
According to the Mobile Police Department, the burglary happened at Technique Auto Sales at around 11 a.m. on a recent Wednesday. Investigators say the suspect got inside the business and left with several pieces of equipment, including a buffer, a polisher, a wrench set, a drill and other miscellaneous tools used to detail and repair vehicles on the lot.
Police spokesman Officer Terence Perkins said detectives are treating the case as a straightforward break-in, but so far no arrests have been made. Investigators are relying on a description provided by witnesses near the dealership at the time of the burglary.
A detailed description, an unknown vehicle
The suspect is described as a Black man who is bald, with a long gray goatee. He was wearing coveralls and black boots when he was seen leaving the property. Witnesses told police he drove away in a red vehicle, though detectives have not been able to pin down the make or model.
The daytime timing of the break-in is notable. Burglaries at commercial properties occur far more often after hours, when buildings are empty and streets are quiet, so a mid-day theft from an active business district suggests the suspect moved quickly and confidently — entering, gathering equipment and leaving while the corridor carried its usual traffic. It also produced something overnight break-ins rarely do: witnesses who saw the man and his vehicle in daylight and could describe both.
Shop equipment is a common target in commercial burglaries of this kind. Buffers, polishers, drills and wrench sets are expensive to replace, hold their resale value, and can be moved and sold quickly through flea markets, online marketplaces and pawn transactions. For a used car dealership, where detailing and repair work is part of preparing inventory for sale, the loss of that equipment interrupts daily operations even beyond the dollar value of what was taken.
A familiar problem along the corridor
Small business burglaries like this one are a persistent headache for owners of used car lots and repair shops along busy Mobile corridors such as Springhill Avenue, where tools and equipment left in unsecured bays or storage areas can be an easy target. Springhill Avenue runs east-west through central Mobile, lined with decades-old commercial buildings, auto-related businesses and neighborhood storefronts, and its traffic volume gives thieves both cover and a quick escape route.
Losses from stolen tools can add up quickly for a small operation, forcing owners to replace expensive equipment out of pocket while investigations continue. Unlike inventory that is insured and catalogued, shop tools are often accumulated over years, and a single burglary can strip away equipment that a business relies on every day. Owners along commercial corridors in Mobile have responded in recent years with camera systems, motion lighting, reinforced doors and secure tool storage, and police routinely encourage those measures as the first line of defense.
Mobile police are continuing to canvass the area for surveillance footage and additional witnesses who may have seen the man or his vehicle near Springhill Avenue around the time of the break-in. Commercial corridors are typically covered by a mix of business security cameras and residential doorbell cameras on nearby streets, and investigators often pull footage from several angles to build a timeline of a suspect’s arrival and departure.
How the public can help
Anyone with information about the suspect’s identity or whereabouts is urged to contact the Mobile Police Department at 251-208-7211 or the department’s main line at 251-208-7000. Tips about a suspect’s name, a location where equipment might be sold, or a vehicle matching the description can all move the case forward, even when a caller did not witness the burglary itself.
Residents and business owners in the area are also encouraged to report any suspicious activity around commercial properties promptly, since early tips can make the difference in identifying repeat offenders who target multiple businesses in a short span of time. Detectives say cases like this often move quickly once a vehicle description or partial tag number surfaces, so even small details from neighbors and passersby can help investigators build a case.
The department has not said whether Technique Auto Sales’ own cameras captured the suspect, but the combination of witness descriptions and area surveillance is typically what carries a case like this to an arrest. Until then, detectives are working the description they have — a bald man with a long gray goatee, in coveralls and black boots, last seen leaving the dealership in a red vehicle — and asking anyone who recognizes it to come forward.
For the owners of Technique Auto Sales, the investigation’s progress will determine how quickly the shop can replace what was taken. Recovered tools are sometimes found weeks after a burglary when investigators trace resale channels, and detectives say that recovered-equipment cases often break once a suspect is identified in connection with a later theft. In the meantime, the department’s request to the public stands: anyone who saw the man, the red vehicle or anything unusual near the dealership that Wednesday morning should call.
How commercial burglary cases move
Burglary in Alabama is charged based on the circumstances of entry, and commercial break-ins of this kind fall under the state’s burglary statutes regardless of the value of what was taken. That matters for the eventual outcome of the case: once a suspect is identified, prosecutors can pursue the charge based on the unlawful entry into the business itself, with the stolen equipment supporting additional counts if investigators can trace where it went. Recovered tools frequently become the evidence that ties a suspect to a specific break-in, since distinctive, well-used shop equipment is often recognized by the owners who bought it.
Detectives investigating a case like this typically work three tracks at once. The first is the witness canvas, going door to door among the businesses and homes near the dealership to collect statements while memories are fresh. The second is the video canvass, collecting camera footage from surrounding properties before it is recorded over, which can happen on a rolling cycle within days. The third is the resale track — checking with pawn shops, scrap dealers and online marketplaces for the buffer, polisher, drill and wrench set that were taken, items distinctive enough to be recognized when they surface.
The Mobile Police Department’s central precinct covers the Springhill Avenue corridor, and commercial burglaries are worked by investigators who become familiar with the businesses along their beats. That familiarity works in both directions: business owners who know their district officers tend to report smaller incidents — loitering, attempted door pries, strangers lingering — that can help connect a major case like this one to a pattern.
Police have not said whether they believe the suspect is connected to other commercial break-ins in the area, but the pattern of taking commonly resold tools is consistent with thieves who work multiple businesses. Detectives encourage owners who were burglarized in recent months and never recovered their equipment to check whether anything matches the description of the Technique Auto Sales haul, since linking cases strengthens prosecution and helps identify a repeat offender.
For now, the description from witnesses remains the case’s central lead: a bald Black man with a long gray goatee, dressed in coveralls and black boots, leaving the dealership in a red vehicle of unknown make and model around 11 a.m. on a Wednesday. Investigators say a single call identifying that man or that vehicle could close the case, and they have kept both tip lines open around the clock as the canvass continues.
Business owners along Springhill Avenue who want to harden their own locations against similar thefts can take a few low-cost steps that investigators say consistently pay off. Motion-activated lighting around service bays and storage areas removes the cover of darkness that most commercial burglars rely on. Cameras should be mounted high enough to avoid being disabled, and their recordings should be retained long enough for detectives to retrieve them — footage that is overwritten within a week is of little use in a case that may take that long to surface. Tool storage behind locked steel doors, with serial numbers recorded for each item, gives police something concrete to trace when equipment is recovered.
Neighbors of commercial properties also play an outsized role in these cases. Residential streets sit close behind the commercial frontage along much of Springhill Avenue, and residents arriving home for lunch, walking dogs or working in their yards are often the only people positioned to see someone carrying equipment out of a business in the middle of the day. A prompt call with a partial tag number or a direction of travel is frequently the detail that lets officers intercept a vehicle minutes after a theft rather than reconstruct it weeks later.
The Technique Auto Sales case remains open and active. Detectives are asking anyone who was near Springhill Avenue that Wednesday morning, anyone who recognizes the suspect’s description, and anyone who has seen tools matching the stolen items offered for sale to contact the Mobile Police Department at 251-208-7211 or the department’s main line at 251-208-7000.