Multiple Oakland retailers hit by thieves Friday morning amid controversy over lost crime-fighting funds
OAKLAND -- Some small Oakland business owners are upset over a string of robberies and break-ins that happened Friday morning.
"It's sad, it makes you sad. You wonder what's going on," said Reza Aryan, co-owner of Jewel Box of Montclair in the Oakland Hills.
Aryan's front glass door was shattered by thieves at around 5 a.m. Aryan said they stole jewelry and watches.
"About $15,000 to $20,000," he said. "It makes it very hard, that's for sure, especially we are trying to get back on our feet after COVID."
Aryan believes the same thieves broke into three restaurants on the same block of La Salle Avenue at around the same time.
A surveillance video provided by EM Deli Catering showed multiple masked people coming out of the store. The owner told KPIX he lost about $7,000 to $8,000.
Farther down the hill, Oakland police said thieves robbed the 7-Eleven store on 23rd Avenue at around 3:30 a.m.
A surveillance video showed five people entering the store after they broke the lock. The casher told KPIX some of them threatened him with an ax. He said the robbers ran away with two cash registers.
Around the same time, Oakland police said thieves tried to rob a different 7-Eleven store on International Boulevard in the Little Saigon District.
A cashier at the store said the thieves forced their way in and beat up a clerk.
A surveillance video obtained by KPIX showed the clerk push the thieves out of the store. Because he had already pressed the panic button to alert police, the thieves quickly drove away in two different cars.
"(My co-worker) had bruising on his nose, his ear was cut," said Justyn Scissom, a 7-Eleven cashier. "It kind of makes me not want to come to work. Is it really worth coming here and possibly getting shot up just to serve a minimal wage job?"
READ MORE: NAACP joins criticism over Oakland's failure to apply for retail theft grant
This comes after the city failed to secure state money to fight retail crime. The city admits they were late to turn in the application to the Organized Retail Theft Grant Program. Many Bay Area cities, including San Francisco and San Jose, did submit requests and received millions of dollars.
Victims and advocates said the city made a huge mistake by not applying in time for the state money to fight retail crime.
"I think, when we missed that kind of opportunity, maybe some heads got to roll," said Jim Nguyen, a community organizer in Oakland's Little Saigon .
Aryan believed the lawlessness today is the result of years of incompetence.
"Over at the city, the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing," Aryan said.
Thieves also broke into a nearby restaurant on Park Boulevard early Friday. KPIX has learned that at least seven businesses were hit up on Friday morning.
Oakland police say they are investigating to see if the incidents were all committed by the same group of thieves.