A homeowner caught a gang of bandits casing his neighborhood on home surveillance video.
The attack of opportunity seems to be coordinated.
Three people can be seen on video footage checking car doors, while a forth person signaled the others by flashing headlights down the street.
The team of thieves were operating in a neighborhood near 67th Ave and Buckeye Road in Phoenix recently.
"It is very scary because they could have gone above and beyond that and tried breaking into a home," said Mario Garay, the homeowner who captured the video.
Garay said he first noticed something fishy when he walked out of the house to leave for work and found the door to one of his cars wide open. After that, he checked his security cameras and found the disturbing scene.
"We have a habit of locking the vehicles. This time I fumbled and these guys found out," Garay explained.
Phoenix police said it's a perfect example of why you need to keep the doors locked. It's especially important this time of year when crooks know there might be Christmas goodies left in the car after a shopping trip.
"I'm certain that's what they're looking for. They're looking for parents hiding gifts in vehicles or see what's easy," said Garay.
Fortunately for Garay, his motion detection light seems to have spooked the "bad guys" and they left without stealing anything valuable.
