Thieves ram U-Haul truck into Downtown LA bike shop
A group of would-be thieves used a U-Haul Saturday morning during a failed break-in attempt at a downtown Los Angeles bicycle shop.
"Smashed our gate and then they tried ramming into one of our storages," Just Ride L.A. CEO Danny said.
Danny said he's been in business for the past 15 years. His video shows more than a dozen people trying to break into his shop. It lasted about 10 minutes with alarms going off before the group took off with the U-Haul.
"They were not successful," Danny said. "Luckily, we are very secure and now we are going to be more secure."
The thieves behind this caper broke open the adjacent gate to enter the bike shop's parking lot. However, this move worked against them as the gate locked them out of getting any further into the building.
Nearby businesses expressed their concern with the unusual crime that happened.
"We never had any issues," owner of Care Pharmacy Don Jarmin said. "We've been here for a while, and we feel safe, but now we're a little concerned with the break-in."
Just Ride L.A. has been a victim of small thefts in the past year and Danny said he has received little support to catch who is doing this.
"We definitely don't want to go in the direction of San Francisco. So, I'm really hoping council members and law enforcement is going to step it up," he said. "As a small business we are paying all these taxes and then we can't even just get basic patrol and basic protection."
Detectives with the Los Angeles Police Department stopped by the shop Tuesday afternoon. They said that the incident was uncommon in the neighborhood.
They currently have no suspects but hope Danny's surveillance video will help their investigation.
In the meantime, Danny had one message for whoever left him with tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage.
"Please leave the small businesses alone," he said.
