Robbers hit Oakland 7-Eleven third time in less than a month
OAKLAND -- Crime fatigue is setting in for many Oakland business owners.
One 7-Eleven owner said he's fed up with the crime in his store on MacArthur Boulevard in the Dimond District. Robbers held up his cashiers at 12:25 a.m. Saturday.
Surveillance video showed two young men with masks pretending to buy something. They pulled out two guns and held up two cashiers. Cashier Daniel Bokre could be seen in the video raising both hands as a gunman pointed a handgun at him.
"Yes, scared, very scared. It's a matter of life," said Bokre said.
The gunmen demanded Bokre and his co-worker empty two cash registers. The robbers took some tobacco products as well. Altogether, the cashiers said the store lost several hundred dollars.
"They take whatever they want, the money. They were asking for money, 'open the register!' They take it, they go away," Bokre said.
Bokre immigrated to Oakland from Africa a year ago, looking for a better life and started working at the convenience store a few months ago.
"No, never happened (to me) before in my country like this. I come from Eritrea, Africa," Bokre said.
Store operator Ravi Kakkar said it's the third incident since August.
"I feel anger," Kakkar said. "We are tired for seeing this every single day. It's not just here, it's everywhere in Oakland."
Kakkar said twice in August, large groups of young people ran in and cleaned out their tobacco products. He said those two incidents cost him about $12,000.
"It's a humble request to the city of Oakland, Oakland councilmembers, Oakland city mayor, please do something, please take a stronger action," Kakkar said.
Despite being shaken up, Bokre came right back to work roughly 12 hours later.
"We must work. Without work, we cannot live here," Bokre said.