Oakland police see another busy weekend with robberies, burglaries
It was another busy weekend for Oakland police as they responded to multiple robberies and burglaries on early Sunday morning.
Police said around 2:45 a.m., a group of robbers used a blunt object and broke down the door to enter the Extra Mile Chevron gas station located in the 1700 block of Castro Street.
"Sledgehammer, I think, is what hit (the glass door)," said Rudy Almanza, who was hired to repair the broken door at the gas station.
Police said the robbers took the cash register and did not hurt the cashier who was working the overnight shift.
"Today is Sunday, I'd rather be home, you know. So they called me out to come and do an emergency, to get this door up and running again," Almanza said.
The repairman said that all the brazen burglaries and robberies have been terrible, it's been good for his line of work and kept him employed.
"Almost daily, really, in Oakland. Like I said, this isn't the only store," Almanza said.
A short time later, police said a group of people also used a blunt object to break the door and enter the Safeway at 5100 Broadway. The store was closed at the time. But there were employees working inside. Police said the robbers took at least one cash register and other items. Police said the robbers did not hurt the workers.
"It doesn't make me feel too safe knowing that people are breaking into our local Safeway," said Jeneen Miller, a Safeway shopper. "It's not a good look for Oakland if people don't want to come live here or shop here because they don't feel safe."
And just before 4 a.m., police said thieves used a stolen Honda Accord to ram It Iz What It Iz Smoke Shop at 2420 San Pablo Ave.
The owner provided the surveillance video of the burglary to CBS News Bay Area, which showed someone backing the sedan into the smoke shop three times to break down the metal security fence.
The alarm sounded the whole time in the surveillance footage, but the burglars did not appear to panic. The footage showed the thieves were in the smoke shop for five minutes, bagging up Nike shoes, bongs, and other merchandise.
The frustrated owner of the business did not want to speak on camera or provide his name. But he said the burglars took thousands of dollars worth of products and caused at least $30,000 in damage to the glass storefront. The owner said no one was working inside the store at that early morning hour.
Police said the Extra Mile gas station and Safeway robberies appeared to have similarities. They were looking to see if the robberies were committed by the same people.
Last weekend, authorities said a group of robbers used a sledgehammer to break down doors to rob Oakland businesses. It is unclear if these recent cases where robbers used a blunt object to gain entry to rob workers and stores were done by the same people.
"They keep saying that crime is down. Yet, it's still going on, constantly going on," complained Oakland resident Fritz Grell, who was going into Safeway to shop.
Oakland leaders recently celebrated the crime reduction in 2024 at a press conference.
The most recent police crime statistics showed robbery went down by 25 percent in 2024 compared to 2023 and burglary dropped by 49 percent.
"No, crime isn't down. The politicians just want to make themselves look good, that's all. That's all it's about," said Grell, who was skeptical of the police stats.
Whether crime went up or down, Almanza believed the incidents were bolder and more destructive. He said that 11 years of doing door repairs, every year since the pandemic has gotten busier for him.
"It makes it hard to live in California, that's for sure. If I wasn't so busy, I might move," said Almanza
No arrests were made in the Sunday morning incidents.
One investigator told CBS News Bay Area the criminals know that OPD is severely understaffed. He believed that was partly why the thieves kept targeting Oakland businesses knowing that response times would be slow and the department doesn't have enough cops to investigate low-priority incidents where no one was hurt.
