Someone walked into a parking deck on the 700 block of Hank Aaron Drive SE last Friday, worked their way to the fourth floor, and started checking door handles on parked cars one by one. By the time they were done, a black 2014 BMW X5 was gone, and Atlanta police still do not know who was behind the wheel.
According to police, the individual entered the garage through a side door before methodically testing handles on cars parked on the deck's fourth level, as surveillance footage reviewed by investigators shows. As reported by FOX 5 Atlanta, the suspect drove away in the SUV on August 21 from the same block, and the Atlanta Police Department has since released surveillance photos of the person while asking the public for help identifying them, per a news release from the department. The stolen BMW carries a distinctive Georgia vanity plate reading 1BLKMAN, but authorities have not released a physical description of the suspect, have not said whether the vehicle has been recovered, and have not clarified how the person got inside the SUV or managed to start it.
Where the Theft Happened
The 700 block of Hank Aaron Drive SE is home to Alexan Summerhill, a 325-unit residential complex with a five-story building and a 424-space parking structure built directly across from Georgia State University's Center Parc Stadium, according to Urbanize Atlanta. The garage sits in a stretch of southeast Atlanta that has transformed rapidly since 2019, when former Turner Field stadium parking lots gave way to more than 800 new apartment units and townhomes, the outlet reports. That density means more residents, more vehicles, and more enclosed decks like the one where the BMW disappeared.
Whoever took the SUV would be facing more than one charge under Georgia law. Entering a vehicle with intent to commit theft is its own felony under O.C.G.A. § 16-8-18, carrying one to five years in prison regardless of whether anything is actually taken, according to Georgia Criminal Lawyer. Actually driving off with the BMW adds a second, separate charge: theft of a motor vehicle valued between $5,000 and $25,000 is a felony under O.C.G.A. § 16-8-12 that carries a mandatory one to ten years upon conviction, per FindLaw.
A Citywide Clearance Problem
The case lands amid a wider pattern that Hoodline has tracked in recent weeks. FBI crime data analyzed in August showed the Atlanta Police Department cleared roughly 10.2% of motor vehicle theft cases in 2025, an improvement over the 3.9% clearance rate the year before but still a steep hill for investigators chasing any single stolen car. That's despite the fact that statewide auto thefts in Georgia actually fell nearly 28% in 2025, dropping from 23,900 reported incidents to 17,200, according to National Insurance Crime Bureau data cited in previous Hoodline reporting. Fewer thefts overall haven't made individual cases any easier to solve once they happen.
To investigate stolen vehicles and parking deck thefts like this one, the department relies on a specialized Auto Crimes Enforcement Unit that uses automated license plate readers, video surveillance analysis, and targeted patrols across the city, per the City of Atlanta Police Department. That unit isn't new to this kind of case: in March, it arrested a suspect linked to at least eight separate luxury auto thefts across multi-level parking garages around Atlanta, a case Hoodline covered in its report on an alleged luxury lot theft ring. Whether the unit has managed to track the BMW's custom plate through those license plate readers remains an open question police haven't addressed publicly.
Prevention Push and How to Report Tips
Atlanta police have also kept pushing their ongoing Clean Car Campaign, which urges drivers to lock doors, secure key fobs, and remove valuables to cut down on the kind of opportunistic door-handle checking sprees seen in this case. It's a message the department has repeated across similar incidents this month, though it remains unclear whether the BMW itself was left unlocked or with a key fob inside, since investigators have not clarified that detail.
Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta, run in partnership with the Atlanta Police Foundation since 2007, is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest and indictment in the case, funded through private donations according to the Atlanta Police Foundation. Tipsters can call 404-577-8477, use the P3 Tips app, submit a tip online at stopcrimeatl.org, or text CSGA to 738477, and all of those channels allow anonymous submissions without providing a name or identifying details.
