The owner of a gas station in Democrat-run Oakland, California, is picking up the pieces after his business was hit by a mob early Friday.
The incident happened at the 76 Gas Station & Mini Market on Hegenberger Road when a huge group of people entered around 4:00 a.m. and looted the store, KTVU reported.
The outlet said the losses amounted to about $100,000, and two workers who were at the store were threatened. Owner Sam Mardaie claimed the robbers broke in through the front door while his shop was only conducting service via a window.
“This is the hardest thing you could ever go through…especially if you’ve been put in sweat and tears day in and day out,” Mardaie stated.
The group ransacked the store after they reportedly attended a nearby sideshow, per ABC 7.
Mardaie told the outlet, “Shelves were ripped apart, all the grocery items were torn or stepped on or vandalized. They broke the refrigerators, they robbed our ATM, tore the ATM apart, took everything in it. They tried to get the safe but it was more secure than anything else so they couldn’t get through that.”
The store’s owner claimed that six hours after he called police for help, still no one had come. Law enforcement later told KTVU they were responding to the sideshow, which had over 100 vehicles in attendance.
The outlet continued:
Police said they received and responded to the call about a burglary at a 76 gas station nearby around 90 minutes later and had initially ranked the crime as a Priority 2- meaning no suspects were on scene and that the crime can be reported online.
It wasn’t until they saw video of the robbery that they raised it to a Priority 1 and sent an officer to the scene.
“The more I think about it, the more it hurts, you know? And the scary part of it is this could happen tomorrow, it could happen the day after tomorrow, it could happen every day from now on,” Mardaie told NBC Bay Area.
A customer at the gas station explained how she is fearful living in Oakland due to the crime plaguing the area.
“It’s very disheartening. I’m scared to go out after dark. It’s alarming,” Ebony Bolton said:
In November, an armed security guard working at an Oakland 7-Eleven was robbed at gunpoint in daylight hours, Breitbart News reported at the time, noting that California is gun-controlled.
