Security video captured an onslaught of more than a dozen masked intruders in hoodies as they launched a brazen smash-and-grab robbery at a California jewelry store.
The crime Friday afternoon at Kim Hưng Jewelry in San Jose injured the retailer’s owner, who was knocked down amid the rush and later treated for cuts from smashed glass, his niece, who was not identified by name, told NBC Bay Area.
She said her uncle, 88, also suffered a stroke, which doctors discovered after he was admitted to the hospital. She said he was released from the hospital Sunday but may not ever return.
“[I] don’t think he’s coming back,” she said. “Absolutely, no.”
The video, verified by NBC News, shows a Ford Explorer SUV smashing into the storefront before more than a dozen people in dark hoodies and masks rush in with picks and other tools to smash display cases and grab loot.
San Jose police said the robbery happened at 2:09 p.m. At least one person had a gun, they said by email.
“The suspects fled the scene in multiple vehicles prior to police arrival,” the police department said. “At this time, the suspects remain unidentified and at large.”
Robbery detectives ask anyone with information to reach out.
The crime has activists alight over such incidents, despite decreasing crime in the state overall.
Organizers of a news conference addressing the robbery Sunday urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to spend more money on crimefighting to prevent similar incidents.
“It’s a crime wave that’s happening everywhere,” Carmen Montano, the mayor of Milpitas, a city 10 miles north of San Jose, said at the event.
The latest California Department of Justice data show robberies were down last year compared with the previous year and burglary and other property crimes were at a nine-year low last year.
On Saturday, the X account for the governor’s press office touted a third-party analysis that concluded San Jose and Los Angeles, respectively, are the safest big cities in the United States.
But Edward Escobar, founder of the Coalition for Community Engagement, said at Sunday’s event that robberies like Friday’s have “become a regular occurrence.”
In recent weeks, Escobar, of San Francisco, has alleged that Newsom, a Democrat, has allowed lawbreaking to go “unchecked,” and he said in an interview Monday that he was the main organizer of a rally at the Capital last month urging the recall of Newsom.
“I go after failed policies from failed leaders,” he said. “I don’t care what party they represent.”
The gubernatorial recall, still aiming for the statewide ballot, is being organized by podcaster Randy Economy, who has identified himself as a former senior adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
At Sunday’s news conference, people held signs that said “Yes on 36,” “Safety First” and “Deter Crime.”
California voters last year approved Proposition 36, a response to previous smash-and-grab incidents. It increases penalties for theft and other crimes.
Newsom left out much of the funding for elements desired by backers, including financing for behavioral health treatment. Montano, the Milpitas mayor, linked the lack of money to crimes like Friday’s.
“We need to get that Prop. 36 funding that the governor was supposed to do, and we need to have it quick,” she said.
Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for Newsom, said the governor’s office wishes the store’s owner a speedy recovery.
Newsom, she said by email, has signed multiple laws designed to address organized retail theft and has given police statewide a windfall of cash to fight it, including $8.5 million to San Jose police. Those efforts, as well as the creation of a California Highway Patrol task force, Crofts-Pelayo said, have resulted in some progress against the crimes.
Proposition 36 “is a narrow law that allows prosecutors to charge felonies against repeat low-level petty theft offenders with mental health and substance abuse problems to coerce them into treatment,” she added. “If the Mayor of Milpitas is suggesting that the offenders who perpetrated this brazen and violent robbery deserve treatment, we politely disagree.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
