Authorities are now searching for four thieves responsible for stealing thousands of dollars in merchandise in a smash-and-grab burglary at a south Forsyth sunglass store.

The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office responded to The Collection at Forsyth at about 2:50 a.m. on Sunday, March 31, to reports that an alarm had been triggered at the Sunglass Hut, according to Cpl. Doug Rainwater, sheriff’s office spokesman.

Upon arrival, deputies found that the front glass door of the store had been smashed in with a rock and several thousand dollars’ worth of high-end sunglasses had been stolen, Rainwater said.

No suspects were on scene when the sheriff’s office arrived, Rainwater said, but upon viewing security footage from the location he said that they were able to see that four male suspects had broken into the store and immediately targeted the store’s expensive merchandise.

“They went straight for the high-end sunglasses and took as many as they could,” Rainwater said.

Authorities have only been able to identify one of the suspects as a black male, Rainwater said. The other suspects wore dark cloth and were unidentifiable, Rainwater added.

“They knew what they were doing,” Rainwater said, “and this was not their first smash and grab.”

Previously, in January 2019, this same Sunglass Hut location was robbed at gunpoint by two young black males who entered the store during business hours and began placing designer sunglasses into a bag that they brought with them into the store.

When a store employee approached the suspects, Rainwater said that one produced a handgun and the pair exited the store to a waiting vehicle. No one was harmed during the incident.

The sheriff’s office is still searching for suspects in this incident, Rainwater said.

Rainwater said that while these incidents are not necessarily related, they are likely caused by the demand for high-value, easily disposed of merchandise.