Girl Scouts victim of theft in South Austin; no girls injured

AUSTIN, Texas - A Girl Scouts troop was the victim of a grab-and-go theft in South Austin Wednesday night.

Police said the troop was at the Randalls location on Ben White and Menchaca.

A security guard was present at the time of the theft, and none of the girls were in danger.

The troop is working with police to identify the thief, or thieves, involved.

"The safety of our members is our top priority, and we are thankful that no one was harmed during this incident. The troop is working directly with local police to identify the perpetrators," Emma Acosta, marketing and communications specialist for Girl Scouts of Central Texas, said in a statement. 

"It's not what you want to hear. You want to know that you can go to the grocery store with your children, and that it will be a safe environment," Cleo Petricek, co-founder of Save Austin Now, said about her reaction to the incident. 

Petricek says crime has gotten worse in the area. "The number of homeless populations there is really high. The likelihood of criminal behavior increases."

While nearby homeless camps have recently been cleared out, Petricek says she's hoping for a better solution. 

"People that go to that grocery store have told me that this is a common occurrence. There's homeless individuals that go in openly stealing things, aggressive with customers, aggressive behavior in the parking lot. I stopped going to that grocery store because of that because even during the day it was a problem," Petricek said.

The area is in Council Member Ryan Alter's district. Alter released a statement saying, "My office has been made aware of Wednesday evening’s events and are grateful that no one was harmed. The Austin Police Department is working with the troop to investigate the incident."

FOX 7 Austin also reached out to Randalls and they released the following statement:

"We are aware of the incident that occurred for the local Girl Scout troop last week. This is so unfortunate. We gathered surveillance footage and delivered it to the police department working on this investigation. Our teams are working to cooperate in every way with their investigation and to provide what we can on our end."