8 businesses were burglarized in Oakland’s Chinatown overnight
ABC7 is reporting that eight small businesses in Oakland’s Chinatown were ransacked and burglarized overnight, resulting in significant property damage and tens of thousands of dollars worth of cash and stolen goods.
In surveillance footage, at least six people are seen breaking into Lounge Chinatown, a new Taiwanese and Chinese night market in the neighborhood. At least $36,000 worth of items were reportedly stolen from Lounge Chinatown alone.
"It is really outrageous and disappointing when we see these things that people would actually come to Chinatown and literally destroy our businesses," Francis Lan, board president of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce, said to ABC7.
No arrests have been made in connection with these eight burglaries.
𝐀𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝟖 𝐛𝐢𝐳 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐎𝐚𝐤𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝'𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧: spoke to restaurant owners who are fed up over the overnight string of crime.@ChinatownOCIC responded + new OPD neighborhood foot patrol officer. Gold Medal reports $40K in damage/loss. pic.twitter.com/aG00Nl7LQr
— Dion Lim (@DionLimTV) March 23, 2023
Prior to Thursday night, Oakland Police reported that more than 12 other businesses were also burglarized, many of them in Oakland’s Chinatown as well. This appears to be part of an ongoing trend where Asian-owned businesses and Asian business owners’ homes and cars are being targeted.
"We do believe there may be a particular group that may be responsible for several of them, but not all of them so we have multiple crews that are doing these robberies," Captain David Elzey, said in a press conference.
This week, we've had more than 12 reports of commercial burglaries citywide.
— Oakland Police Dept. (@oaklandpoliceca) March 24, 2023
Reduce the risk:
• Don’t leave large amounts of money inside your business.
• Install operable surveillance cameras
• Install alarms with motion sensors on the inside of the business. pic.twitter.com/wG1zlKd3yn
