Orlando police said four businesses were broken into early Friday morning.

Investigators said the crooks first hit the Kirkman Animal Hospital, where Dr. Mohammed Hassan credits a very loud alarm system for scaring the burglars away, after they smashed a front window with a rock.

"The glass shattered from the top part, most of it, so nobody was able to walk in. The alarm went off directly. And we saw the stone inside there they used. The rock was used to break the glass," Hassan said.

Nothing was taken from the animal clinic, but a block away a whole row of stores had the cash in their registers stolen.

Investigators said the crime spree then continued to a Metrowest strip mall a block away, where crooks went door-to-door breaking into a nail salon, a pizza parlor and a hair salon.  

The three businesses had their front doors smashed in as well.

Police said they are hoping surveillance video will help catch the crooks.