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Another CA Jewelry Store Rammed With Car, Robbed
The latest incident happened Monday at a store in Oakland, California, continuing a pattern JSA first warned about last month.
On Monday, a jewelry store in Oakland, California, was robbed by eight individuals who backed a truck through the front of the store before smashing the display cases with hammers, making off with both money and jewelry.
Oakland, Calif.—Police in California are investigating another incident of a vehicle being rammed through the front of a jewelry store by a group of armed robbers.
According to the Oakland Police Department (OPD), the robbery occurred just before 1:45 p.m. on Monday at a business in the 700 block of International Boulevard, identified in media reports as Kim Tin Jewelry.
(Another Kim Tin Jewelry store, this one in Sacramento, California, was the target of an armed robbery in November 2024; it was unclear as of press time if there is any relationship between the two stores.)
When police arrived on the scene, they saw that the front of the store was significantly damaged, and an employee told officers someone had rammed a vehicle into the business, OPD said.
According to a report by local CBS affiliate KPIX, eight individuals wearing ski masks and armed with guns entered the store.
They smashed open the display cases with hammers and stole jewelry and money before fleeing the scene, leaving the vehicle behind.
OPD said it is actively investigating the robbery and asks anyone with information to contact the department’s robbery unit at 510-238-3326.
Any videos or photos that could assist with the investigation can be sent to cidvideos@oaklandca.gov.
Related stories will be right here …
According to the Oakland Police Department (OPD), the robbery occurred just before 1:45 p.m. on Monday at a business in the 700 block of International Boulevard, identified in media reports as Kim Tin Jewelry.
(Another Kim Tin Jewelry store, this one in Sacramento, California, was the target of an armed robbery in November 2024; it was unclear as of press time if there is any relationship between the two stores.)
When police arrived on the scene, they saw that the front of the store was significantly damaged, and an employee told officers someone had rammed a vehicle into the business, OPD said.
According to a report by local CBS affiliate KPIX, eight individuals wearing ski masks and armed with guns entered the store.
They smashed open the display cases with hammers and stole jewelry and money before fleeing the scene, leaving the vehicle behind.
OPD said it is actively investigating the robbery and asks anyone with information to contact the department’s robbery unit at 510-238-3326.
Any videos or photos that could assist with the investigation can be sent to cidvideos@oaklandca.gov.
Monday’s armed robbery in Oakland is the latest in a string of robberies that involve multiple suspects driving a vehicle through the front of a jewelry store in broad daylight before rushing the store, smashing up the display cases, and stealing merchandise.
In an interview last month, JSA Executive Vice President Scott Guginsky said this pattern of violent smash-and-grab robberies is unprecedented.
“In all my years doing this, I’ve never seen this many vehicles being driven [into jewelry stores] and this many groups bum-rushing jewelry stores,” he told National Jeweler in July.
JSA has shared a number of tips for jewelers in California to help prevent or mitigate losses from these violent smash-and-grab robberies.
Guginsky said retailers should notify local law enforcement about this pattern and request extra patrol coverage, and they need to train their staff not to resist in the event of any type of robbery.
JSA also has long recommended jewelers hire armed security guards for their stores, preferably retired law enforcement, which can be a deterrent to perpetrators.
Guginsky said jewelers, with the approval of their landlord if necessary, might want to consider placing flowerpots, stanchions, or bollards in front of the store as a barrier to stop, or at least slow down, vehicles.
He also noted that all jewelers should have an insurance policy that adequately covers the value of their inventory, both what gets left in the vault and what doesn’t.
“You have to make sure you have proper insurance coverage for what is taken out and displayed in the store,” he said.
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