Written by Vincent Cain
A California jewelry store owner is speaking out after his business was attacked by thieves in a smash-and-grab robbery. The thieves reportedly stole over $100,000 worth of merchandise and left his father injured.
The owner of “Heart of Gold” in San Jose, Eric Orozco, went to the media to discuss what happened. Orozco said, “They terrified my family, they terrified all of our employees.” Orozco added, “They weren’t sure if they were going to die. They weren’t sure how escalated those moments were. It was just some of the worst moments of some of their lives.”
When Orozco was recounting the assault of his father, he said, “My dad was injured and… that really broke my heart to see. I mean, had the pressure been a little bit harder on his head, he could have died. So these guys came in and threatened lives.”
According to Orozco, the robbery took place only one day after reopening, after he had to close his store for an entire week out of fear of being targeted. Despite the string of smash-and-grab robberies across the state and Orozco notifying the police to tell them he was fearful of being targeted, they told him there was nothing to be done.
“They let us know that there is nothing that they could do at that moment, that they almost had to let the crooks do more crime, more theft … in order to put these guys away for a long enough time,” Orozco commented.
“They let us know that if they… Didn’t do enough of these crimes, and they were caught, they would be put away for a short amount of time,” he continued.
When commenting about the robbers themselves, Orozco said, “They’re not worried about the decent men and women that are going to work, and they’re coming and threatening us with violence, and they’re threatening to take away the things that we’ve been earning for years, and they take it within a matter of seconds.”
This highlights once again the problems that California is facing with its crime wave. Well-organized criminals are destroying the lives of small business owners all around the state and in some cases, people are dying because of the actions of these criminals. Local and state authorities must not only prosecute these crimes but protect the business owners and other citizens.
Photo Cred: NBC
