Police investigate strange burglary at Baltimore Popeyes on Pulaski Highway

A shirtless man in camouflage underwear and black pants slipped through the drive-thru window at a Popeyes on Pulaski Highway before dawn Friday, taking cash, an employee’s jacket and a pair of slip-resistant slides from the East Baltimore restaurant.

Baltimore police said the break-in at 3400 Pulaski Hwy was discovered later in the morning, and officers were called around 10:22 a.m. Surveillance video showed the suspect entering the restaurant around 5:43 a.m., while employees were inside working. No one was hurt, and the suspect did not appear to be armed.

The restaurant’s lit sign and unlocked doors added to the confusion for customers who came by afterward, since the store still appeared open even after the burglary had already taken place. That kind of detail matters for a busy corridor like Pulaski Highway, where a single break-in can ripple beyond the stolen cash and leave workers, managers and customers sorting out what happened before the business can get back to normal.

The theft of an employee jacket and slip-resistant slides also turned the case into more than a cash loss. Those are basic work items, but for staff already on shift, replacing them can mean another expense and another disruption at a place that depends on fast turnover and early-morning operations.

Baltimore police said the case remained under investigation. The department directs residents to its public crime map and to Open Baltimore for preliminary crime data, which includes burglary as part of the city’s reported Part 1 crime categories. Maryland law treats burglary as a separate property crime with its own statutes and degrees, reflecting the difference between a simple theft and a break-in.

In this case, the unusual clothing and the early-hour entry through the drive-thru window made the burglary stand out. For the businesses that line Pulaski Highway, though, the larger issue is familiar: even a strange-looking crime can leave a real cost in lost merchandise, staff disruption and the uneasy feeling that the front line of a neighborhood storefront is not always enough.