WESTLAKE, Ohio -- The Apple Store at Crocker Park is the latest high-end computer outlet targeted in a wave of smash-and-grab robberies that has swept the country.

Three masked men shattered the glass door at the Crocker Park Apple Store about 4:30 a.m. Friday and rushed through the showroom, scooping up 24 MacBook laptops and an iPod Touch, collectively valued at nearly $30,000, said Westlake police Lt. Ray Arcuri.

The thieves spent only about a minute in the store before fleeing, a surveillance video showed. By the time a police officer reached the store minutes later, they suspects had already escaped.

Daring copycat robbers have struck at least a dozen Apple stores from coast to coast in the past year. According to news accounts, robbers invaded the company's chic computer emporiums in Pittsburgh, San Diego, Arlington, Va., Greenwich, Conn., and Woodcliff and Marlton, N.J., suburban Dallas - and struck three times at the same store in Naperville, Ill.

A security guard shot and killed an armed robber during the San Diego thefts, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. An Apple Store employee was shot and wounded during the Arlington crime, the Washington Post reported.

The FBI is assisting several law-enforcement agencies around the country and has contacted Westlake police to offer its assistance, said Cleveland FBI spokesman Scott Wilson.

"We know that there have been like crimes that have occurred around the country," Wilson said. "If we can tie this group to someone else, or if we can tie one group to another group in another state, we will do what we can to help the police catch the culprits."

Several television news broadcasts and surveillance recordings have been posted on

, providing would-be robbers a virtual instructional video on how to pull off a successful Apple store break-in.

Apple Stores are like 21st Century jewelry stores or banks - except much easier to rob, said Arcuri, who heads the department's detective bureau. They present tempting targets with their upscale, glass-walled storefronts and eye-catching displays of iPhones, iPads, iTouches and Mac desktop and laptop computers.

Arcuri suggested Apple consider installing a more formidable barrier to protect doors and windows.

"Maybe they should think about hardening the front doors or erecting gates," Arcuri said. "They might not be as aesthetically pleasing, but they might want to make it a little bit harder for them to get in."

A spokeswoman at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., declined to talk about the Crocker Park robbery or Arcuri's suggestion. "We don't comment on matters of security," she said.

Police suspect the Crocker Park thieves had visited the Apple Store the night before, Arcuri said. Store employees reported seeing suspicious-looking patrons wearing clothing similar to that on the suspects. Investigators are reviewing store and parking lot videos for clues, he said.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

jmccarty@plaind.com, 216-999-4153