Pittsburgh Police investigate string of business break-ins in Shadyside, Lawrenceville

Pittsburgh Police are investigating whether a string of business break-ins over the weekend in Lawrenceville are related to several similar incidents days earlier in Shadyside.

The rash of burglaries began overnight Thursday into Friday, according to police.

Two businesses on South Aiken Avenue were broken into and had goods taken from inside, while a third business had its door shattered, police said. Cash was taken from the register of a business on Copeland Street after someone shattered the glass door.

The glass door of a Walnut Street business was also shattered, and the cash drawer was taken from the register.

Kawaii Gifts on Copeland Street was among the businesses burglarized in the Shadyside spree. Owners posted a photo of their shattered door on Twitter.

Our business hours today will start later than usual. Our door was smashed and we will be closed until it can be repaired later in the day. Our online store is always open! Thank you for your understanding! pic.twitter.com/YGs7SDpnMn

— Kawaii Gifts (@KawaiiGifts) August 26, 2022

Sometime overnight between Saturday and Sunday, five more businesses were hit, this time on Butler Street in Lawrenceville.

Doors were shattered at three businesses. Cash drawers were emptied at two of them, while the entire cash drawer was taken from the third, police said.

Someone broke into a fourth store and ransacked a safe, but police said nothing was missing. The door of a fifth was tampered with, but no one made it inside.

The owner of Una Biologicals posted a photo of herself in her empty door frame Sunday morning.

“They can break our glass,” she wrote, “but they can’t break our spirit.”

Police spokeswoman Cara Cruz said detectives are “certainly looking into the possibility” the break-ins are connected.

“At this point it’s too soon to say definitively as (detectives) will be comparing … but they are investigating a possible connection,” she said