Home Invasion Crimes In San Leandro, San Francisco Possibly Linked
SAN LEANDRO (KPIX 5) -- Investigators are looking into a possible link between two home invasion crimes on opposite sides of the bay last week--one in San Leandro and the other in San Francisco.
Detectives said that video surveillance footage as well as the vehicles used in both crimes are driving their investigation.
In one video of the San Leandro break-in taken last Wednesday, five men can be seen. One uses a crowbar to break into the home on Margery Avenue, near Interstate 580, at around 12:30 p.m. The next camera angle inside the home features a blaring alarm as the men rifle through the home. A Playstation, jewelry and other items were taken.
The suspects can be seen making their way out of the ransacked house as they pile into a silver Yukon SUV, which interested police.
"The following day, we learned about a case in San Francisco, which we believe the vehicles from our burglary matched a crime they were investigating," said Sgt. Troy Young of the San Leandro Police Department.
The connected crime was a home invasion robbery and pistol whipping in San Francisco's Crocker Amazon neighborhood. It happened just an hour after the San Leandro home invasion, police said.
In the second crime, ten suspects successfully got away with cash and other items. "In our case, we had give suspects. They were in a silver Yukon and a blue Inifiniti," Young said.
Due to that link, a search warrant was served in connection with the two cases and two arrests have been made so far.
Detectives from both cities' police departments didn't elaborate much further beyond that, citing the ongoing investigation, but they say this type of transbay crime is becoming more normal.
"We're seeing a lot of our suspects around a very wide geographical area to commit crimes. Crime now has very much become a regional problem," Young said.