Berkeley business owner says store left unrecognizable after break-in
Watching the surveillance video of four suspects ramming a car into her storefront and then stealing countless cameras and supplies, Jen Waicukauski, the president and CEO of Looking Glass Photo in Berkeley, said at this point she's just exhausted.
"I'm just so deeply disappointed. Like there is so much in the world to be really angry about, to use our capabilities to fight against and this little camera store is not one of those things," said Waicukauski.
Early Sunday morning, she said she woke up to an alert on her phone saying her camera shop's alarm was going off.
"It's that first thing in the morning, not really awake, overwhelmed and feeling furious and scared and worried and unsure, you know I'm at home, I'm not here," said Waicukauski.
She said she watched live from the security cameras as the suspects went back and forth between their car and her storage room, grabbing as many cameras as they could.
By the time police arrived, Waicukauski said the suspects had already taken off.
When she got to the scene, she said the store was almost unrecognizable.
"Just imagine the impact of a bomb suddenly sending everything flying, making our conference door explode. There's still glass, I'm actually looking at it," said Waicukauski.
The suspects destroyed the front entrance to the shop and smashed almost everything in sight. She said the break-in is extra frustrating because they've done so much to try and keep this from happening.
They installed bollards on the sidewalk, they had a roll-down security gate inside, they stored all their equipment in a back room.
"Like how can we get more creative with our security? We think we're being creative with our security right? It wasn't creative enough," said Waicukauski.
The one glimmer of hope through this difficult time has been all of the support pouring in from the local community and beyond.
"I could not stop crying yesterday with all the messages coming in. The financial support is wonderful, but just people doing whatever they could to come by and let us know that they care, that what we do matters, that they took it personally, that they were as angry as we were," said Waicukauski.
So far, more than $50,000 has been donated to help in the recovery effort. Now, as she tries to figure out what's next, she said she's just happy to know that her community is behind her every step of the way.
"Just trying to create a stronger bond again with our community that we always do. Making them feel safe when they come in here, as well as securing our space," said Waicukauski.
