Surveillance video captured suspects wreaking havoc Monday morning in a store, using an excavator to smash through a window in an apparent attempt to steal an ATM, ABC 7 reported.
The footage saw the heavy machinery crash through the glass of the store in West Oakland, causing an estimated $70,000 worth of damage, according to ABC 7 News. The store clerk narrowly escaped harm as the excavator broke through the glass, and forced the clerk to leap out of the way just inches from the machine. The suspects reportedly fled in a white pickup truck at the sound of sirens.
“They tore up the whole front! That’s at least $70,000 worth of damage,” store owner Ali Abdulla told the outlet. (RELATED: Masked Men Allegedly Entered Miami Steakhouse, Robbed Diners At Knifepoint)
“I was born and raised in Oakland, I’m 51 years old and I’ve never seen nothing like this. I think the only way you can run a business in Oakland is – as soon as you close, you sleep in your store and stay locked and loaded with an AK-47 and just be ready because the police is not coming on time,” he said, per ABC 7. “And I’m not blaming the police because there’s just not enough of them out there.”
“This is not what we were promised, this is not the American dream, I don’t see the American dream, I think it’s American nightmare right now!”