Police say group of people tried to steal cars from O’Fallon CarMax; one arrested

Police are searching for a group of people they say tried to steal multiple cars Saturday night from the CarMax in O'Fallon.

A group of four or five people broke into the CarMax lot on Saturday night at 1254 Central Park Drive, according to O'Fallon Police Sgt. Michael Mojzis.

One person was arrested, while the others fled from police and had not been found as of Sunday afternoon, Mojzis said.

At about 2:32 a.m., police received a call from CarMax's alarm company, which told police that surveillance showed what looked like multiple vehicles being stolen.

When police arrived, they saw several people jump out of cars in the gated parking lot and run away on foot.

One male juvenile was inside a car and was arrested. He had been using the car to ram into the gate in an attempt to break it, Mojzis said.

"There was no way for them to get out," Mojzis said. "That gate looks like it has zero damage to it. When they rammed it with the vehicle, it destroyed the front of the car."

Mojzis said three or four people fled from the scene. Police are still searching for them.

This story was originally published June 24, 2018 at 3:27 PM with the headline "Police say group of people tried to steal cars from O’Fallon CarMax; one arrested."