30 to 40 people try to break into downtown Palo Alto store; 2 arrests made

TheRealReal, a high-end consignment store, at 379 University Ave. Post photo.

By the Daily Post staff

Between 30 and 40 people tried to break into the high-end consignment store TheRealReal at 379 University Ave. in downtown Palo Alto last night, just before midnight.

A security guard was in his car nearby when he saw the mob descend upon the store. He immediately called 911. The would-be robbers tried to break into the store by slamming some sort of solid object against the windows. A window shattered but didn’t give way.

When police arrived at 11:20 p.m., the mob ran to their cars and sped out of town.

Palo Alto and Menlo Park police stopped two cars in Menlo Park and made two arrests, Palo Alto police Lt. Brian Philip said.

Earlier Sunday evening, the robbers hit TheRealReal store in Marin County in Larkspur, and then the caravan drove to Palo Alto.

Inside the car Palo Alto police stopped were items from the Marin County store with their price tags still on.

The store sells women’s clothing, shoes and expensive handbags on behalf of people who want to sell those items.

On June 21, a crew of seven robbers took $50,000 in handbags from the store. That prompted management to hire security guards who have been highly visible to passers-by.

There have been a number of similar incidents in the Bay Area in the past few days.

Early Thursday morning, three thieves broke into the De Novo Fine Contemporary Jewelry at 250 University Ave. in downtown Palo Alto and stole more than $50,000 worth of silver and gold jewelry from the display cases, police said.

Cameras captured two people wearing dark clothes, hooded sweatshirts and Covid masks breaking into three display cases and grabbing items for just over a minute, while a third person waited in a getaway car. No arrests have been made in the Palo Alto robbery.

On Friday night, well-organized thieves rammed vehicles into storefronts to break glass doors and windows at Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Yves Saint Laurent, Burberry, and Dolce & Gabbana in San Francisco’s Union Square shopping district on Friday, according to police. Several people were arrested.

On Saturday, about 80 people, some wearing ski masks and wielding crowbars, ransacked the Nordstrom at the Broadway Plaza outdoor mall in Walnut Creek. Two employees were assaulted and one was hit with pepper spray during what police called “clearly a planned event.”

Correction: An earlier version said Menlo Park police stopped a car fleeing from the scene. Actually, Menlo Park and Palo Alto police stopped a car and made two arrests.

 

 

25 Comments

  1. I think the job of a reporter is to factually report what happened without putting their opinion in the story. I think this story meetis that standard. The opinions belong on the editorial page.

    • FJB: What do you call the storming of our nation’s capital by domestic terrorists? Was that caused by lax liberal policy? Or is the lax liberal policy stonewalling the investigation into that same domestic terrorist attack that left several dead? Your Fox News like expectations that a news source point the finger at liberals is to be honest kind of gross. No matter who is governing, liberal policy seems a convenient scapegoat by people like you to blame anything on.

    • Is all planned events! They are backed by these liberal nut cases, nobody ever goes to jail, they are all in on it, even the stores know it would happen!

    • Absolutely correct. The bigger problem is that sores has gotten nearly 30 of these moron DAs into cities all over the country in the last 3-4 years. This country is in huge trouble just because of him

    • This is merely the latest in a years long crime spree. We are past the point of making assumptions and into the territory if hard fact. Perhaps not this individual incident in all aspects, but the overall trend is fairly obvious.

  2. Instead of ramming vehicles and shattering glass in middle of the night, I don’t understand why they don’t all just walk into a bank in bank robber masks where it’s perfectly legal to do so without resistance or anyone batting an eye like any other masked bank customer.

  3. Could it be that having immense wealth inequality in the bay area is leading to a huge rise in property crime? And could most of that wealth inequality stem from a huge lack of housing? Most middle class folks have left town by now so it’s down to the haves vs the have nots. Obviously these crimes should be prosecuted but let’s also look at the root cause.

    • Being poor does not mean you are barbaric and is no excuse. This idea that we must forgive crime because some have a lot more than others is crazy. The housing shortage is because the Democrats who control California politics didn’t build enough lower income housing starting way back when the boom started. They also didn’t plan the roads, rail, power grid, and water very well. But that’s a longer conversation.
      The root cause – as everyone should know by now – is that SOME people voted in people with activist agendas and not much respect for the quality of life in California and those people confuse their fantasies with their responsibilities as public servants. Whether it’s sanctuary cities and opening up the border or emptying the prisons or not prosecuting crime, or letting teachers brainwash their kids, Californians are getting what they voted for. Not punishing crime = more crime regardless of what your college professor might have told you about woke. We pretend that the crimes the groups we are not allowed to speak about don’t exist or worse that there is some reasonable excuse for their barbarism. Evil wins when good people do nothing.

    • If you don’t have enough money to live in the Bay Area.. move!
      I did ! I couldn’t afford to live there anymore.soooo that gives me Card Blanche to rob people ??? Give me a break!
      This IS due to the lotting and robbing that went on all the George Floyd summer and the people who dud nit go to jail!
      Thus is insane!!!!!

  4. Will DA Jeff Rosen charge and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law or let these criminals essentially walk free like Chesa Boudin in SF? Do we have a DA prosecutor committed to public safety or a criminal advocate enabler?

  5. My conspiracy theory is that the theft mobs are actually police, creating panic for which they’ll be rewarded with bigger budgets and more draconian tactics. And it appears to be working, as evidenced by the Governor’s recent announcement.

  6. Jeff Rosen and Gavin Newsom were supporters of Prop. 47, the law that springs violent criminals out of prison. Source: https://ballotpedia.org/California_Proposition_47_(2014),_supporters

    Other supporters of Prop 47 were:

    B. Wayne Hughes Jr., businessman and philanthropist
    Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix
    Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow
    Michael Moore, filmmaker and activist
    Brad Pitt
    Cameron Diaz
    Olivia Wilde
    Andrian Grenier
    Viola Davis
    Tim Robbins
    Kimora Lee Simmons
    Demi Moore
    Russell Simmons
    Russell Brand
    Kerry Washington
    Wilmer Valderrama
    Edward Norton
    Margaret Cho
    Jesse Williams
    Robin Wright
    Terry Crews
    Judd Apatow
    Susan Sarandon
    Marlon Wayans
    Alyssa Milano
    Larry David
    Rosario Dawson
    Omar Epps
    Ellen Pompeo
    Kevin Hart
    Alicia Silverstone
    Rachel Roy
    Sanaa Lathan
    Danny Trejo
    Jeffery Wright
    Big Boy
    Jasiri X
    Cedric the Entertainer
    Dream Hampton
    Anthony Anderson
    Charlie Murphy
    Selita Ebanks
    John Singleton
    Jaime Chung
    La La Anthony
    Arsenio Hall
    Debbie Allen
    Ernesto Yerena
    Terrence Jenkins
    Deray Davis
    Annalynne McCord
    Damien Wayans
    Mark Gonzalez
    Tika Sumpter
    Troy Carter
    Sydney Tamia Potier
    Josefa Salinas
    Timothy Watters
    Natalie Patterson
    Patrick Martinez
    Kenny Hamilton
    Affion Crockett
    Sanaa Lathan
    Danny Trejo
    Jeffery Wright
    Big Boy
    Jasiri X
    Cedric the Entertainer
    Dream Hampton
    Anthony Anderson
    Charlie Murphy
    Selita Ebanks
    John Singleton
    Jaime Chung
    La La Anthony
    Arsenio Hall
    Debbie Allen
    Ernesto Yerena
    Terrence Jenkins
    Deray Davis
    Annalynne McCord
    Damien Wayans
    Mark Gonzalez
    Tika Sumpter
    Troy Carter
    Sydney Tamia Potier
    Josefa Salinas
    Timothy Watters
    Natalie Patterson
    Patrick Martinez
    Kenny Hamilton
    Affion Crockett
    Jay Z[10]
    John Legend[9]
    Aloe Blacc
    Harry Belafonte
    Sean “Diddy” Combs
    Wayne Kramer
    Tyrese Gibson
    Maya Jupiter
    Mya
    Mecca
    Mike de la Rocha
    Michelle Williams
    Harper Simon
    Feli Fel
    Quetzal
    The Last Internationale
    Las Cafeteras

    • Too many of the good people of California supported it – they were wrong. In fairness to the voters they probably didn’t think Prop 47 would create such a mess. Now the we have the law, and bad DA’s, and unfortunately too many other bad law and not order policies in California, it’s time to return the crooks to jail and the addicts to treatment.

  7. DA Jeff Rosen holds a news conference to say he’s going to crack down on these thieves and he supported Prop 47, which launched this crime wave? He needs to be thrown out of office.

  8. Everyone in the comments is suddenly a public policy expert….just remember that we’re going 2 years into a pandemic, and the problems we been having in the hood for decades exacerbated by COVID were bound to ripple outward. NIMBY folks — our backyard is your backyard now <3 y’all keep pinning this on Boudin and it shows how much time the work-from-home population has to cling on the news bc nothing has changed in office aside from maybe him charging cops which Gascon never had the balls to do. Look at the actual numbers, people…

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