Thieves again target Pasadena bike shop, marking the third incident in 3 months

Thieves stole up to $100,000 in bicycles from a Pasadena bike shop, and the store's manager said it's the third time in three months that burglars have targeted the business.

Six people in hooded sweatshirts, wearing face masks, were captured on surveillance footage early Tuesday morning, outside and inside the business, gabbing bicycles and rolling them out.

Velo Pasadena store manager Matthew Gevrikyan said that in the last few years, there have been about 10 break-ins. He said that so far, Tuesday's burglary at the high-end bike shop was the biggest one.

Surveillance cameras captured the heist, showing burglars taking eight bikes, with an approximate 3:30 a.m. timestamp.

"They took customer bikes, a couple of them were actually brand new, the customers, we just built them. They were here. They were supposed to come pick them up," Gevrikyan said.

He said the burglars got in through the back door by breaking the hinges off the door and then smashing the glass window of a basement door.

"Every single time something like this has happened, we have improved security," Gevrikyan said.  "If you take a look around the shop, you see bars on the windows and walls. We have increased that, increased our camera footage, and I mean there is only so much we can do as a small business."

Loyal customers keep coming, despite the break-ins. Customer Alex Eusebio said Velo is a family environment, it's a community. "Oh yeah, we're not going anywhere, you know we're South Pasadena, Pasadena, Los Angeles, and we're going to continue to support our small businesses," he said.

Gevrikyan said the good news is one of the burglars was caught from a break-in a month ago.

"Hopefully these people get caught, (and) that people are aware, and continue to support small businesses, whether its restaurants or retail shops," he said.