RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif. (KTLA) — Surveillance video captured the moment more than a dozen thieves used an alleged stolen vehicle to crash into a camera and electronics store in Riverside County and make off with thousands of dollars in merchandise.
The incident occurred on April 17, just before 6 a.m., at Mac Star Cameras & Electronics in Corona, according to the store’s management.
In the video, the vehicle’s revving engine can be heard just as the front of the store comes crashing inward. The driver of the vehicle then pulls forward and reverses again, crashing farther into the store, causing the corrugated security door to hit shelving along the wall.
Moments later, thieves come streaming in and begin ransacking the store, several of them wearing flashlights on their heads. The smash-and-grab crew is undeterred when the store’s alarm system goes off and the lights come on. They continue to systematically steal as many things as possible and carry them out the front of the store.
At the very end of the dramatic video, the last person in the store is shoving items into a plastic trash bag, moving around counters and toward the front of the store when the weight of the stolen goods causes them to take a hard fall just before exiting the scene.
In just three minutes, the burglary crew made off with some $65,000 worth of merchandise and left the stolen vehicle used to break-in behind, the store’s manager told NewsNation affiliate KTLA, and added that this is the seventh time the camera and electronics establishment has been robbed in the two years it’s been open. No arrests have been made in any of the cases.
As for this recent burglary, store officials filled out a police report and said the only thing thieves left behind in the car was an ID and a cellphone, both of which police took into evidence.
Thursday morning in Burbank, a similar smash-and-grab burglary happened where at least 10 people used a truck to plow into a high-end store and steal some $70,000 worth of merchandise.
KTLA has reached out to the Corona Police Department for comment on the incident, but has not yet heard back.