Thieves cut into roof and steal jewelry worth millions from Manhattan Beach store
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- An investigation is underway after thieves ransacked a high-end jewelry store in Manhattan Beach, carving a hole in the roof and getting away with millions of dollars' worth of jewelry.
The incident is the latest in a string of thefts targeting jewelry stores across Southern California.
Labor Day may mean a day off for most people, but apparently, not for criminals. In fact, they put in overtime on a holiday. The manager of the store says the crooks were inside for nearly 10 hours.
"All the safes have been opened. Everything has been taken," the South Bay Gold manager said in a video she recorded of the damage. "They didn't leave nothing. Everything is gone."
She says the burglars cut a hole in the roof to get inside on Monday, leaving behind destruction and heartbreak.
The entire store was ransacked, and the manager says the losses are in the millions.
Fortunately, surveillance cameras at the business next door captured a decent look at one of the thieves' faces.
"They had opened a little hole into our building, believing that it was part of the gold place, thinking that they could get some more jewels out of it," said Joshua Hill, who works at the neighboring music school, Coast Music.
Hill says while the suspects killed all the power to the gold store, they left the electricity on at the music school. They even cut another hole into their business, using their power to recharge their tools.
"They weren't accounting for us, and having that camera placed there," Hill said.
They also weren't accounting for leaving even more damning evidence behind. One of the crooks who was cutting through the wall was also cutting through something else: his hand.
"In the video, you can see how dark and bloody his hands are, and that's how police were able to get some of his blood for a DNA test," Hill said.
The incident is just one in a string of recent jewelry store heists -- including similar break-ins in Simi Valley earlier this year, Glendale just a few days after that, and in Encino.
None of those cases had such a clear close-up view of one of the suspects.
"We have a great shot of his face, so hopefully if anybody recognizes that, they could reach out to the police so we can get him," Hill said.
South Bay Gold is still closed due to the damage and the investigation, but in the meantime, their customers can go to their second store in Torrance.
