Furious Texas mom offers $10,000 reward after son, 21, and his friends were robbed at gunpoint at Oakland gas station, as violence in notorious city spikes 21%

A Texas attorney is offering a $10,000 reward after her son was attacked at an Oakland gas station.

The 21-year-old was attacked Monday by a group of armed robbers who approached his car at a gas station near Oakland International Airport.

Attorney Maxey Scherr said her son was on his way back from celebrating his 21st birthday in Sonoma and Napa this weekend when he and his friends were attacked.

The group stopped at the station to fill the tank at gas station 76 on Hegenberger Road around 2 p.m. when the robbery occurred.

“It’s pretty disgusting if it’s true that this happens once a day to Thrifty (rental company) vehicles,” Scherr told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The incident took place in the Oakland Airport area and has become infamous for car thefts

The 21-year-old was attacked Monday by a group of armed robbers who approached his car at a gas station near Oakland International Airport.

“It casts a very bad light on Oakland.”

‘I feel like this is just not possible. This should not be the way of life out there,” she said.

And he added: ‘We shouldn’t just accept that this is how it should be.’

The incident took place in an area around Oakland Airport, which has become notorious for car thefts.

Police claim that criminals strike twelve or more times within a square kilometer every day, mainly targeting victims on their way to and from the airport.

Less than a mile away, a Shell gas station on Hegenberger Road is also plagued by thefts. About five hundred meters from the Shell, another Chevron is also a hotspot. And in addition, the parking lot of an In-N-Out Burger is affected daily.

Police say the criminals, who operate in well-organized groups, follow the same playbook: A spotter keeps watch for targets, usually rental cars going to or from the airport, while they stop at gas stations.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao has tried to deflect blame for the rise in crimes, which also included a 38 percent spike in robberies between 2022 and 2023. Pictured: A vehicle broken into at the Shell gas station on Hegenberger Road

Photos show an Audi hit at the Chevron on 98th Ave (left) and a car targeted in the In-N-Out Burger parking lot (right)

A victim at the Chevron on Hegenberger Road said their rear window was smashed as they drove away after getting gas, but nothing was taken

Patrols have also been increased at an In-N-Out Burger, where parked cars are often targeted

They then alert the accomplices, who pull up in a vehicle when the targets start pumping fuel. They often smash a rear window or pop open the trunk of unlocked vehicles before making off with luggage and valuables. The thefts last only a few seconds.

The spike has earned Shell the nickname “America’s most dangerous gas station.” The two Chevron sites are also top candidates for the unwanted title.

Online reviews for these gas stations and the In-N-Out are flooded with dozens of complaints from customers affected by the crooks.

A shocking video from the In-N-Out parking lot shows a thief crashing into a black SUV in broad daylight. The crook leans his feet off the ground through the rear window of the vehicle and grabs several items before fleeing in a waiting getaway car as more than a dozen onlookers watch.

Another clip from outside the Shell shows a thief using the exact same method to steal a backpack from the trunk. With his feet off the ground, he leans against a broken rear window to pick up the loot before escaping.

The victim said he was parked for less than two minutes. “Stay away from this place at all costs,” the review said. “The thieves were bold enough to use my credit cards at this gas station later that day.”

An officer patrolling outside the Shell on Thursday told DailyMail.com: ‘This has always been the case, but not to the extent it is now.’

The officer’s assessment is backed by official crime statistics for Oakland, which show that auto theft has increased nearly 50 percent in the past year. In 2022, there were 8,675 cases of car theft in the city, compared to 12,956 last year.

The officer said they often see repeat offenders. “We see someone and they get arrested, and a week later they come out again,” the officer said.

He said the police public information office could answer further questions, but the city’s media team did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao has sought to deflect blame for the increase in crimes, which also included a 38 percent spike in robberies between 2022 and 2023.

Thao, 38, who took office last January, said crime in Oakland has “been steadily rising since 2019” and that it is “unfair for anyone to say that crime only started to rise on my watch.”

The solution, according to officers on the ground, is to abandon the progressive legislation that has limited their powers.

“It’s a social experiment and it’s not working,” said one. “Why don’t we stick with things that work?”