Palo Alto police are looking for burglars who brazenly broke into Bloomingdale's early Tuesday morning and made off with about $83,000 worth of merchandise, including jewelry and watches.
A surveillance video from the department store at Stanford Shopping Center shows at least two people, each wearing black hoodies, hats and jeans, running inside the store shortly after 2 a.m. One of them used a rock to smash the glass door at the entrance of the store. The footage released by police shows the pair then smash various display cases with rocks over the course of about 25 seconds and then run out of the store with their hands full of merchandise.
Police learned about the smash-and-grab burglary after security personnel saw a person run toward a vehicle that was parked outside of Bloomindgale's and speed away with its lights turned off. That security guard observed the shattered glass near the entrance, as well as the smashed jewelry display cases, and called police.
Investigators believe the break-in involved three people, one of whom was the getaway driver, the new releases states. The vehicle they used to get away appears to be a 1990s white four-door BMW 3 Series sedan, according to the news release.
The surveillance video can be viewed here.
Detectives are looking into the possibility of whether this burglary is connected to similar ones in surrounding cities.
Anyone with information about Tuesday's burglary is asked to call the department's 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent by text message or voicemail to 650-383-8984. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through the police's free mobile app, downloadable at bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.
Comments
Crescent Park
on Jan 9, 2020 at 3:50 pm
on Jan 9, 2020 at 3:50 pm
Just another in a long list of developments showing California's long slide into third world status. Brazen robberies, rampant homelessness , car burglaries out of control
Web Link
highest level of inequality in the US (when housing costs are factored in), the list goes on......
Midtown
on Jan 9, 2020 at 4:37 pm
on Jan 9, 2020 at 4:37 pm
Just a bunch of crazy kids from Atherton, Hillsborough, or LAH. I see them driving around in BMW's all the time. I hope no one was cut by glass. There could be a lawsuit.
Palo Verde
on Jan 9, 2020 at 5:58 pm
on Jan 9, 2020 at 5:58 pm
Should raise that $950 prop 47 exemption to $95,000.
Charleston Gardens
on Jan 9, 2020 at 11:23 pm
on Jan 9, 2020 at 11:23 pm
I'm astonished that Bloomingdale's didn't protect their valuable merchandise with bars on the windows and/or removal of merchandise to locked compartments. IMO this was a crime waiting to happen.
Palo Verde
on Jan 10, 2020 at 1:32 am
on Jan 10, 2020 at 1:32 am
Car rental agencies should offer a "bars-on-windows" option.
Professorville
on Jan 10, 2020 at 5:43 am
on Jan 10, 2020 at 5:43 am
I bet three 80-year old men did it.... :)
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jan 10, 2020 at 7:28 am
on Jan 10, 2020 at 7:28 am
From the video, it seems the situation of the jewelry so close to the doors is almost an invitation. Perhaps moving the jewelry to a more secure area that can be put behind secondary doors which are locked overnight would be an idea.
Downtown North
on Jan 14, 2020 at 9:18 am
on Jan 14, 2020 at 9:18 am
@bars @Resident- Are you saying Bloomingdales was asking for it? I'm sure the average Stanford Mall shopper would love bars and reinforced concrete around the store. Or we could just lock up the crooks the first time they're arrested, rather than the 10th.
Embarcadero Oaks/Leland
on Jan 14, 2020 at 9:32 am
on Jan 14, 2020 at 9:32 am
I've been wondering when retailers will bring back decorative wrought iron gates. A small jeweler on Main St. in Los Altos has been robbed at least 3 time in the last year or 2, with the thieves driving a vehicle through the front door.
Crescent Park
on Jan 14, 2020 at 3:40 pm
on Jan 14, 2020 at 3:40 pm
What did you expect from a materialistic American society?
The poor people want some of the 'good things in life' as well and much of it is based on keeping up appearances...no different than many of the folks who actually pay for the merchandise.