The owners of a small, independently owned coin and antique shop in San Francisco are picking up the pieces after a bold burglary involving multiple suspects occurred early Monday morning.
The owners are sharing stunning surveillance to identify the suspects and prevent similar crimes from happening in the future.
“You feel hopeless, you feel violated… we put in thousands of hours in work putting those coins online and in our website and they took everything,” says “J”, owner of SF Coins, Jewelry and Antiques, who requested we hide his identity for safety.
Broken glass, overturned boxes, and a trail of coins are the remnants of a seven-minute crime spree that the shop owner watched in real-time, from home, on surveillance.
“When you get a call in the middle of the night from your alarm company, you know it’s not good news,” he says.
Three vehicles are seen pulling up to the intersection of 12th Avenue and Clement around 2:45 a.m. Monday, according to video from the store’s nearly 30 surveillance cameras. At least five people can be seen. Some of them were armed with crowbars and other tools. They’re all wearing hoodies and masks.
“They broke into, one, two, three doors,” says J incredulously.
The video shows the five suspects breaking into the safe room and nearly emptying the shelves, loading boxes of coins into garbage bags. The suspects are speaking inaudibly, and the high-pitched alarm is blaring.
“These are professionals,” J exclaims.
The loss is estimated to be around $50,000 by the company’s owners. The two have a combined 45 years of experience in the coin business and never expected such a large-scale burglary in their neighborhood.
“You just feel such disbelief this is happening to us, you feel shocked this is happening in the Richmond District,” says J.