A smash-and-grab gang attempting to steal a mom-and-pop jewelry store in Huntington Beach, California, were repulsed by a barrage of punches and kicks from the owners’ children and shop employees, who were shown on security tape forcing the marauders out of the store empty-handed.
The bizarre footage begins with a guy clad in a black hoodie and mask entering the Princess Bride Diamonds jewelry store at the Bella Terra shopping center.
The crook instantly smashed the front display case with a hammer. Three other bandits charged in behind him carrying backpacks that they presumably hoped to fill with ill-gotten jewels.
Huntington Beach, a quaint surf town in Orange County 35 miles south of Los Angeles, has not been immune to the trickle-down effect from the big city’s crime spree.
Robberies in Los Angeles have spiked nearly 20% from a similar period last year.
Trans and Lisa Baca started Princess Bride Diamonds in 1984 with an emphasis on custom designed engagement rings that fit within their clients budget.
Their son, Dallas Baca, who was working when the thieves attacked. He said that he saw their reflection out of the corner of his eye as they stormed the store.
Baca dashed out from the backroom, the video shows, and landed a punch to the face of one of the robbers, doubling the thief over and knocking him off his feet.
Counterwoman Lily Ochoa came out from around the shattered display case and shoved another the bandits before repeatedly kicking the downed thug in the gut.
The two store employees then ganged up on another of the robbers landing blows to his face and body and sending him fleeing from the store.
Sister Sarah Baca then run out from the back of the store with a chair and smashed it down on the back of another robber who tried try to re-enter.
‘I was just looking for something big and heavy to like hit them with and the stool was just right there, so I just ran up grabbed the stool and hit the guy over the head with the stool as hard as I could,’ she told NBC News.
One of the masked marauder hit Sarah Baca in the head with a hammer, but she was barely fazed.
At some point while I was fighting them, one of them actually hit me in the head with a hammer, on the side of my left temple, but I didn’t even register it until after they left because there was so much like adrenaline going on,’ Sara Baca told KTLA.
The brother and sister finally send the crew out of the store and lock the doors behind them.
‘I didn’t think too much going into it, I just kind of reacted to it,’ Dallas Baca told NBC news. ‘I feel like you never think it’s gonna happen to you but you always know it’s a possibility, in the back of your mind.’
Customers applauded the workers tenacity in fighting off the robbers.
‘It’s cool to see them fight back. That was awesome!’ David Clark told CBS News Los Angeles. He who bought his engagement ring for his his fiancée Audrey Tate at the store.
‘We live across the way and David got our engagement ring from here so we care a lot about the staff,’ Tate said. ‘We’re just sad to see what happened.’
The Huntington Police Department said that no one was badly injured in the melee and they are investigating the attempted robbery. No arrests have been reported.
Last September, police shot and killed an armed man at pointblank range after he refused to drop his weapon during the U.S. Open of Surfing competition.
The LAPD have identified 17 separate ‘follow-home’ crews who are targeting wealthy shopping areas a
nd enclaves for violent carjackings and watch thefts.
There have been 221 such muggings since last November when police created an 18-person task force to address the phenomenon.
Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer has taken a different approach to crime from LA’s ‘woke’ DA George Gascon.
His re-election slogan has been ‘No LA in OC.’