AUSTIN, Texas — On New Year's Day, someone broke into Hope Lutheran Church on North Hampton Drive. Security video shows a man walking around the campus and breaking the lock off a door to get in.
He took thousands of dollars worth of items, including about 20 Chromebook laptops, a 65-inch flat-screen TV, a lawnmower and leaf blower, among other things.
"Something like this, it's disheartening at first," said Daniel Betts, Hope Lutheran Church president.
Carl Repp, Hope Lutheran Church's director of community engagement, said the man broke in Sunday morning. On Tuesday, after Repp saw the damage, he called 311 and filed a report online.
"They told me because of the magnitude of what has happened that we have to have a phone call with [the police]," Repp said. "They told me I would receive a phone call from the police within 24 hours."
However, on Thursday, Repp called to inform APD that no one had contacted him yet. Repp said APD told him that someone would give him a call and that the department had been busy.
As of Saturday, no one has contacted him.
"We've had great participation from our police before," Repp said. "We do believe in the police department. It's just very frustrating that we're not getting any kind of response whatsoever."
KVUE reached out to APD to ask if they are looking into this case. They have not responded.
Repp hopes the church gets a call soon.
"We can't even move forward with the insurance claim until I have an actual police report," he added.
Since the accident, the church has already put up a fence around a building on the campus.
"They [the fencing] were planned as required by state law in response to recent safety issues on campuses that we're aware of," said Betts about safety issues unrelated to the recent robbery.
Now, church leaders are hoping to replace the door on one of the buildings that was broken into.
"The door itself is about three grand," Repp said, "because we have to completely rebuild that wall to restructure the door."
The church also has other things that need repair. Leaders are hoping for good news from their insurance company once everything goes through.