A San Francisco store owner has slammed officials in the Democratic-led city for failing to contain a rampant crime spree after a gang of thieves broke into his tobacconist’s shop and stole $100,000 in goods and cash.
Store owner Zaid, an immigrant from Afghanistan, said lawmakers need to “get a handle” on the city, feeling it is “worse than Afghanistan or Iraq.”
“At least in Afghanistan the Taliban will cut your hand off and people are afraid to commit such a crime,” he added. Fox news.
His comments come as the West Coast metro slides further into lawlessness, with homicides and robberies reportedly up 25 and 17 percent from last year, respectively. official crime statistics.
Shocking footage revealed how the gang of thugs ‘looted’ the store and made off with more than $100,000 in goods and cash
Shocking footage of the attack on Zaid’s shop saw a mob of thieves emerge from two vehicles on the street outside and begin smashing his window.
After going inside, Zaid said it only took the thugs 20 minutes to “loot” his business, where they made off with about $80,000 in merchandise and $20,000 in cash on Tuesday night.
No arrests have yet been made in connection with the incident, leading Zaid to lash out at soft-on-crime policies implemented by Democratic lawmakers.
“They know the police won’t do anything,” he added, claiming officers told him they were understaffed when he reported the incident.
“We have a drug problem, we have a homeless problem, and on top of that these idiots come in here and take whatever they want,” he said.
The Afghan immigrant has lived in the United States for more than three decades after emigrating to the country in 1987, but he said San Francisco is worse than he’s ever seen.
“The city has gone downhill especially in the last 2 years since COVID, I have never seen it worse,” Zaid continued.
“People are afraid to come here to shop because they will either get robbed or their car will be broken into.”
Despite owning his shop since 2003, Zaid said the rampant crime spree has left him questioning whether he should keep the business afloat.
“Maybe we should close it,” he said. “Our safety is more important than making a living in this town.”
Top officials in the city, including Mayor London Breed and California Governor Gavin Newsom, are under increasing pressure to solve the city’s crime problems, leading an irate resident to throw a rock at the mayor in protest last week.
San Francisco has been plagued by rampant homelessness, drug use and crime in recent years
The shocking heist comes as San Francisco continues to grapple with its untamed crime spree.
According to the SFPD’s crime statistics, the city’s homicide rate is up a whopping 25 percent from 2022.
Robberies and arson attacks are both up 17 and 7 percent respectively, as thousands of homeless people fill the streets and drug abuse continues to plague struggling populations.
Many critics of the situation point to the pandemic for the city’s decline, after the California hub’s high concentration of tech workers left the city en masse during lockdowns.
Many have not returned, thanks to the ability to work remotely and signs of urban decay on the streets, including a surge in overdose deaths among the city’s homeless.
The city saw a staggering 41 percent increase in drug-related deaths in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same time last year, when fentanyl ravaged the city’s homeless population.
In the California coastal hub, 200 people died from drug overdoses between January and March, compared to 142 deaths in 2022, according to recent data from the city’s coroner.
That equates to one overdose death every 10 hours in a city that has seen its reputation as a seaside gem destroyed by rising crime, drugs and homelessness.
The reputation of the West Coast subway has been destroyed by untamed drugs, crime and homelessness
In an effort to counter the newfound reputation for crime and lawlessness, San Francisco officials recently poured $6 million into a massive marketing campaign to lure tourists back to the city.
Dubbed “Always San Francisco,” the campaign includes the city’s first-ever television commercial featuring a music video that highlights the subway’s quirkiness and diversity.
In 2019, the city welcomed 26.2 million visitors, according to the SF Travel Association. That number hit an all-time low in 2020 due to the pandemic, and it has yet to return to its former glory days.
According to a analysisSan Francisco is suffering the slowest downtown recovery of any of the 62 largest cities in the US and Canada post-pandemic.