NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Surveillance video captured several armed men stealing an expensive motorcycle that was parked in front of a home in North Miami Beach.
The video shows some of the men picking up the bike while another thief with a gun made sure the homeowner never made it out the front door.
Residents who spoke with Local 10 News reporter Roy Ramos said it's not the first time the crooks have hit their neighborhood and they want it to stop.
The video shows a total of four thieves stealing the Ducati motorcycle early Tuesday morning from the front carport of a home on Northwest 21st Avenue near 172nd Street.
Homeowner Matthew Scala said he was asleep and had no idea armed crooks were right outside of his bedroom window.
"A little scary. Yeah, absolutely, and I didn't know until after the fact," he said.
Scala's neighbor, Carlitos Matos, said he woke up to see the crooks backing up a white Ford pickup truck as the group was loading the motorcycle into the truck bed.
"I see four males carrying the red motorcycle that he has and they all had masks on. I saw three or four of them had guns on their waist," Matos said.
Trying to deter the thieves from making off with his neighbor’s property, Matos confronted what he said was close to seven armed men.
"I told them, 'Hey, you guys got to leave. I already know who you guys are. Leave the bike.' They responded and said, 'Alright, we are going to leave right now,'" Matos said.
Matos is seen in the video calling 911, but after he walked away, the crooks took off in the white truck and a dark-colored SUV, taking Scala’s motorcycle with them.
"I didn't know what was going on. I just woke up, but my bike was not parked anymore," Scala said.
Despite Matos following the suspects in his car with dispatch on the line, he eventually lost both vehicles.
Scala's message to the group who made away with his $10,000 motorcycle he's owned for the past three years was to: "Get some back bone and earn something the right way."
North Miami Beach police said they were aware of the incident. Residents, meanwhile, said they'd like to see more patrols following the recent thefts.
Anyone with further information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.