Yet another smash-and-grab robbery at a high-end audio equipment store happened early this morning, this time at Music Lovers Audio and Video on Bush Street a store which was also hit by a similar smash-and-grab through its front windows four weeks ago, as ABC 7 reports. The owner says that, just like the first burglary, the masked culprits arrived at 4 a.m. and broke in through the front windows, only this time they also went inside and down a long hallway to steal speakers, amplifiers, and other equipment. They stole $20,000 worth of stuff the first time, and the value of the loot this time is unclear.
This smash-and-grab is the third to happen in a similar manner in just two weeks, the fourth in a month, and is either a copycat crime or was committed by the same group of brazen thieves.
Last week these or some other cunning audiophiles broke into AudioVision at 1628 California Street, stealing only about $10,000 worth of goods but causing $100,000 in damage to the store. And two Sundays ago there was a similar burglary at Harmony Audio Video in West Portal.
If these crimes have anything in common besides the loot, it's that they're occurring in quiet neighborhoods in the dead of night, and the thieves are getting away before police are anywhere close.
And these incidents followed on other recent smash-and-grab incidents at a Patagonia Store and at the Wells Fargo Museum, both of which happened in January. In the Wells Fargo incident, there are some clear images of the thieves who broke in and stole a bunch of gold nuggets, however they were masked.
A separate, brazen masked and armed robbery happened in early February at the Tiffany's in the Westfield Centre in which three suspects came into the store in the middle of the day wearing construction/utility worker uniforms and masks, and were therefore able to walk out through the mall without suspicion.
As CBS 5 reports, police are not saying whether they think any of these crimes may be related.
