A Chinatown store lost jewelry worth hundreds of thousands in just an instant.
The bandits behind the crime, which transpired at Long Boat Jewelers near Sacramento and Grant, are now wanted.
The jewelry store owners shared with KRON4 how they were shocked by the incident. Their business was also targeted by the break-in within the past four days.
According to the owners, it only took less than three minutes for the bandits to steal over a hundred thousand dollars worth of jewelry.
The break-in left Long Boat Jewelers’ owners cleaning up the mess the crime has left as they also counted what the thieves got.
The owners said the suspects went to the store on Tuesday morning and smashed the business establishment’s gate. They forced their way through the entrance and stole over $250, 000 worth of items.
“I think there are less physical robberies, but the robberies keep happening and even more aggressively,” United Peace Collaborators’ Ebert Kan said. Since Asian American neighborhoods fell victim to several attacks during the pandemic, the said group moved to patrol around the Bay Area where Asian Americans live.
“We were out here on Saturday roughly around 12 and we saw the broken glass and we asked the police officers here writing the report, around 10 somebody broke the glass and stole a couple of things and stole nearly everything,” Kan said, adding that the information on the break-in in four jewelry stores on Saturday reached him through the San Francisco Police Department.
KRON4 contacted SFPD for further information regarding the case but it has not yet responded to the request.
Meanwhile, the still-shocked store owners cannot talk in an interview. They are still anxious that the criminals might return.
“Almost all of the owners are scared. They don’t know what to do. Their hands are tied. They say if people rob them, and there is no repercussion,” Kan said.
Kan added that several store owners can shut their businesses forever amid the pandemic challenges like insufficient customers and skyrocketing rental prices.
