- Security footage shows the moment a gang robbed a jewelry store before destroying the premises with sledgehammers
- Debris flies across the screen as they rush through the building
- But the violence is in vain as the valuable jewels have already been taken from the display case
Foolish burglars rammed into an LA jewelry store in a spectacular break-in, only to find most of the good stuff had been locked up for the night.
Dazzling security footage shows the moment the masked gang sent a stolen SUV through the front wall of JR’s Diamonds and Jewelry in upscale Sherman Oaks on Saturday night.
Metal grilles fly and part of the ceiling collapses as the gang bursts into the store, jumping over furniture and sledgehammering their way into display cases.
With the store a wreck, they realize their efforts have yielded little more than trinkets before retreating, leaving the badly damaged SUV nearby.
“We have to redo the floors, redo the cabinets because they broke for no reason,” the store owner said ABC7.
“There was nothing in it.”
Security footage captures the moment the front of the store collapses as the stolen SUV drives backwards at high speed through the closed window
Even empty crates prove to be a target for the thieves as they rampage through the store with sledgehammers in search of loot
Jewel and the clown: The stolen SUV was later found abandoned after the thieves escaped mostly empty-handed
More than 12,000 burglaries have been reported in the city so far this year, a 15 percent increase over the same period in 2021, while arrests for the crime have fallen by almost 14 percent.
Security footage from last week showed the moment a burglar cut the roof of a smoke shop in nearby Eagle Rock and rappelled through the hole on a rope.
The store’s owner arrived the next morning to find stolen cigarettes and lottery tickets, and a rope dangling through the hole in his now badly damaged ceiling.
Sherman Oaks has also fallen victim to a wave of “flash-mob” style attacks that have swept the city in recent months.
In August, when a gang of masked bandits wearing hooded sweatshirts and dark clothing rampaged through Westfield Fashion Square, a shopping center with more than 100 stores, including major retailers like Bloomingdales, Macy’s, Apple and Banana Republic.
Days earlier, about 30 thieves made off with $400,000 worth of branded merchandise from the YSL store at the Glendale Americana in Brand.
Robberies are also on the rise in 2021 in the city where LA dad Vince Ricci had his concealed carry permit ‘revoked’ last week after being attacked by two men in his $2 million home.
The hooded attackers jumped over cabinets and left the store, leaving chaos in their wake
The store on the 15000 block of Ventura Boulevard has been around for three generations
With his wife of five months and the babysitter in the room, Ricci grabbed his gun and started a gunfight when two armed men jumped the fence and tried to enter his home.
Police say they currently have no leads in connection with the raid on JR’s Diamonds that took place around 1:45 am on Sunday morning.
Despite their mediocre loot, the gang managed to wreak havoc on the store that had operated in the 15000 block of Ventura Boulevard for three generations.
“They just don’t care, so it affects us both financially and mentally,” the owner said.