Thieves attempting to tunnel their way into a local jewelry store early Monday morning were left empty-handed when the owner of shop, who just happened to be working inside, called police and scared the suspects away.
The attempted break-in occurred at around 2 a.m. at Topanga Canyon Plaza, located at 9927 Topanga Canyon Boulevard near Lassen Street in Chatsworth.
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to KTLA that officers responded to a robbery panic alarm inside the jewelry store. At the scene, the owner of Denny Lesser Jewelry told police that someone was tunneling into his business to try to burglarize his shop.
In footage of the scene obtained by KTLA, an officer can be seen sliding behind a fence that was presumably cut by the suspects as a way to gain access to one of the building’s side doors that led to a martial arts studio.
Once inside the door, the suspects tunneled out a portion of the brick wall of another business in what appeared to be an attempt to get inside the jewelry store from there.
Salon owner Sarah Shafik showed KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo where the tunneling was done in the rear of her shop. The thieves used sledgehammers to make a hole leading to the salon’s restroom.
“Like making a tunnel from store to store until they reach the jewelry store,” Shafik said.
Another shop owner in the strip mall who did not want to appear on camera told KTLA that the two suspects broke through six walls with a sledgehammer, starting with the cinderblock wall outside.
“So, that took a lot of time, it’s crazy,” she said.
It was her business’ surveillance cameras that captured a person wearing a parka walking in the back and the getaway vehicle, a silver SUV speeding in and out of the back-alley parking lot.
“I’ve never seen anything like this and I’ve had 12 break-ins, but never have I seen anything like this,” she explained.
While nothing was taken from the jewelry store, at least two thieves, not including the getaway driver, tunneled their way into the businesses.
No arrests have been made in the case and no suspect descriptions have been provided.
“They were stupid, really,” Shafik said. “Get a better job. If they were smart, they would have a job.”