Smash-And-Grab Burglars Hit West LA Baskin-Robbins, Westchester Pizza Shop

WEST LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Police believe the same group of suspects are responsible for smash-and-grab burglaries at a Baskin-Robbins in West Los Angeles and a pizza shop in Westchester early Friday morning.

In both burglaries, the suspects fled empty-handed, but caused significant damage to the restaurants regardless.

At around 1:30 a.m., six suspects pulled up to a Baskin Robbins in the 11600 block of Wilshire Boulevard in two cars and used an ax to break into store, according to Los Angeles police.

The owner of the Baskin-Robbins told CBS2 that the store was also targeted in a similar break-in last year. That prompted the store to change where it kept its money. This time around, the burglars did not get to the cash. Investigators obtained surveillance video of the incident.

At around 4 a.m., a group of suspects broke into Melody Pizza in the 9100 block of South Sepulveda Boulevard. The suspects smashed the front window of the shop and fled.

"Shattered glass on the ground, papers were everywhere, cash register was hanging, dangling on wires," Melody Pizza owner Christian Warren told CBS2.

The suspects in both burglaries had the same physical descriptions and modus operandi, police said. Both break-ins were caught on security video.

"They busted our window down, they risked going to jail," Warren said. "We're going to catch them, we go their license plate on the tape," Warren added.

The break-ins also had similar characteristics to smash-and-grab burglaries which occurred earlier this month in West Hollywood and Fairfax. It's unclear if all of them are connected.