Burglars hit ATM at Whitefish market

Thieves made off with a “substantial” amount of cash after breaking into an ATM at Alpine Market in Whitefish early Monday morning.

The break-in occurred sometime between 3 and 4 a.m. at the Wisconsin Avenue store, according to Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial. The assistant manager of the store reported the break-in after finding a front window broken at 6:42 a.m.

The Whitefish Police Department is asking for the public’s help in identifying two possible suspects described as two white men, one of whom looked to be in his late 20s or early 30s with a slender build. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt or jacket with Knife River Construction on the back of it. The men were driving a smaller sport-utility vehicle.

“It was a substantial amount of money,” Dial said. “We’re investigating it now and we have a couple of decent leads and some video we’re hoping is going to pan out.”

Dial said Alpine Market has video surveillance, but that the particular ATM inside the store did not.

The crime is part of a string of burglaries in the Whitefish area over the weekend, Dial said. A car wash on Wisconsin Avenue — across the street from the Alpine Market — also was broken into sometime Sunday night or early Monday morning and cash was stolen from the vending machines.

Attempts were made at two other businesses, Dial said. In one of those instances, the thieves were unable to drill the locks off a vending machine. One attempt happened overnight Friday and another overnight Saturday.

“We’re hoping that we’ll get some information from the public, and we also do have some video from one of the other businesses which may help us identify the suspects,” Dial said, adding that there may be two separate crews of people attempting the burglaries.

Dial asked anyone who has information related to the burglaries to call Whitefish Police at 863-2420.

Reporter Brittany Brevik may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at bbrevik@dailyinterlake.com.