A Miami Beach mother is warning neighbors to stay alert after three masked men tried to break into her family's luxury cars in broad daylight Wednesday afternoon, fleeing only because the doors were locked. The woman said her four children were at school when the attempted theft happened near the 3400 block of Chase Avenue, and neighbors had to alert her to what was unfolding on her own property.
According to WSVN 7News, the victim said the moment immediately terrified her once she learned what had happened. Security footage captured three hooded and masked men running onto the family's property and attempting to open parked vehicles, the station reported. The men arrived in a maroon Tesla, with two of them going after a Mercedes Maybach and a white Lincoln while a third man moved toward a neighboring home, per the same account.
A neighboring family provided the surveillance footage that captured the attempted burglary, WSVN reported. The footage reportedly shows the men checking whether the vehicle doors would unlock, but finding them locked, they retreated to the Tesla and fled the area without taking anything.
A Quiet Mid-Beach Street Becomes a Target
The attempted break-in unfolded on a stretch of Chase Avenue that sits in Miami Beach's Nautilus neighborhood, a Mid-Beach enclave known for multi-million-dollar single-family homes near the Miami Beach Golf Club, according to Zillow. The victim said this marked the first time such an incident had happened to her family in broad daylight, and she said she feared what could have happened if her children had been outside at the time, the station's report notes.
WSVN reported that it has covered several luxury car burglaries across Miami Beach in recent years, including a 2025 theft in which thieves made off with a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen after arriving in expensive vehicles and checking for unlocked doors on high-end cars — a pattern echoing Wednesday's attempt.
Police Credit Locked Doors, Vow Accountability
The Miami Beach Police Department said locking the vehicle doors is what prevented the burglary from succeeding, the station reported. Police spokesperson Christopher Bess said detectives are taking the incident seriously and working to hold those responsible accountable, in a statement shared with the outlet.
The failed Chase Avenue attempt follows a string of far more elaborate luxury car theft schemes that have hit Miami Beach over the past two years. In April 2025, police arrested a suspect tied to a $2 million theft ring after he took keys from a hotel valet area and used a rented black Cadillac Escalade in the scheme; the thieves then left in the four stolen high-end vehicles, according to WPLG Local 10. Months earlier, the department's specialized Burglary Apprehension Unit recovered more than $5.3 million in stolen luxury vehicles, including a $300,000 Rolls-Royce, after dismantling a ring that had altered car shipping delivery destinations, per the National Insurance Crime Bureau.
Citywide Numbers Show Progress, But Risk Persists
More recently, in July, Miami Beach police arrested a 30-year-old suspect accused of hacking vehicle transport databases to illegally reroute tow-truck pickups of luxury cars, including a $125,000 Range Rover, as detailed by Local 10 News. Hoodline previously reported on that tow-truck theft sting, part of a broader pattern of high-tech schemes that have also surfaced elsewhere in Miami-Dade County.
Despite these cases, city crime data shows vehicle burglaries in Miami Beach dropped by 37.12 percent and auto thefts fell by 24.34 percent in 2025, a decline the city credited to targeted police patrol deployments, according to the City of Miami Beach. The department also runs a Real Time Intelligence Center with citywide automated license plate readers and a Drone as First Responder program designed to track suspect vehicles and intercept stolen cars entering the island, per Skydio.
Still, police have repeatedly pointed to the same basic defense that worked on Chase Avenue. Back in December 2024, after 24 vehicles were burglarized overnight in Miami Beach's North Shore community, officers emphasized that locking car doors remains the single most effective deterrent, noting that break-ins can occur in under five minutes, according to CBS News Miami.
What Charges Could Follow
The men tried to enter the parked vehicles but left without taking anything. Had the men succeeded in driving off with the Maybach, it would have constituted a vehicle theft.
It remains unclear whether the men in the Tesla were acting alone or are connected to any larger organized theft network; South Florida agencies have coordinated cross-county investigations before through the South Florida Criminal Apprehension Team, a mutual-aid effort administered by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, as Hoodline has previously reported. For now, the Miami Beach mother is urging neighbors to stay vigilant, and anyone with information can contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS, where tipsters may remain anonymous and could be eligible for a reward of up to $5,000.
