A pair of bumbling wannabe-crooks were caught on camera trying to bust their way into a California jewelry store with a pair of sledgehammers — but failed miserably when the glass proved stronger than they were.
The pair of hapless heisters — who were dressed head-to-toe in black clothing — walked up to DeVons Jewelers in San Joaquin County’s Lincoln Village at around noon Tuesday and tried to break open an outdoor display case loaded with Rolexes, according to KCRA 3 in Sacramento.
But their plan went terribly awry when the glass wouldn’t break despite repeated blows, a bystander-recorded video shows.
Thieves tried to bust the window of DeVons Jewelers in San Joaquin County’s Lincoln Village, but failed miserably. google
The bumbling burglars couldn’t smash the front window, even though they both had sledgehammers in-hand.
The would-be burglars were seen awkwardly choking up on the sledgehammers in a form that implied they weren’t familiar with them, and they appeared to grow exhausted as the glass wouldn’t give.
One of DeVons’ employees fled through the back door and ran to neighboring Nekter Juice Bar, where she told owner Mark Sarale that the store was being robbed.
“She was pretty shaken,” Sarale said. “I looked outside, told everybody to stay inside, closed the door so I could keep everybody safe. Then the guys took off.”
Meanwhile, jewelry store workers rushed to the case, grabbed the watches and shuttled them away, Andres Lopez of the San Joaquin Sheriff’s Office told the station.
“When the suspects saw that, that’s when they stopped smashing the windows and fled in their vehicle,” Lopez said.
The dejected robbers hoofed it to their getaway car — a black, four-door sedan — and drove off.
Workers pulled the expensive Rolexes out of the window, and the thieves decided to run away. KCRA
The assault left the store with thousands in damage, reports said. KCRA“It’s not abnormal,” Lopez said, according to ABC 10. “This happens all the time anywhere, whether it be night or daytime. It’s what’s called a smash and grab — they’ll go in there and do a quick break into a vehicle or a building, and get what they can and then leave.”
No one was hurt during the ordeal. But the jewelery store suffered thousands of dollars worth of damage, according to the report.
Lopez added that although the video will help cops find the perpetrators, he doesn’t advise pulling a phone out every time there’s a crime.
“We don’t ever recommend you to get your phone out and start recording and make contact with these people because if you do that, they can also turn their attention towards you,” he said.
In a statement to ABC, DeVons said they could “only say that our staff worked quickly to secure our store, and we are very happy all staff and customers are safe.”
But the attack rattled neighbors like Sarale.
“I was just kind of shocked — it’s pretty brazen to do something like that at noon,” he said. “It’s just really upsetting to put everybody in that kind of jeopardy … To do something like that, it’s just sad.”
