Surveillance video caught the moment employees of a California jewelry store fought back against hammer-wielding assailants and repelled a smash-and-grab robbery attempt.
The incident unfolded at about noon on Sunday at the Princess Bride Diamonds store at the Bella Terra mall in Huntington Beach. The shop has been owned by the Baca family for several years.
Video obtained by KTLA-TV shows the employees react quickly to several assailants with hammers running into the store to smash the display cases.
Among the employees were a brother and sister who work for their father at the store.
“We had an idea that it could happen, but it’s always different when it actually does happen,” said Dallas Baca.
He added that one suspect was able to hit him with a hammer during the altercation.
“At some point while I was fighting them, one of them actually hit me in the head with a hammer, on the side of my left temple, but I didn’t even register it until after they left because there was so much like adrenaline going on,” Baca said.
One woman was able to hit one of the assailants with a chair.
“I picked up a chair and I hit the one guy in the head that was attacking Lily,” said Sarah Baca, referring to another employee.
“I’m just glad everyone’s OK. I’m glad that our team banded together and we were able to put up a fight and stop what was happening,” she added.
Huntington Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Carey said the thieves were able to steal about $7,000 worth of jewelry in the incident.
Other workers in the mall said they were happy the employees fought back.
“I guess they walked in the store, broke some things but the family fought them off, so good for them, right?” said surf shop worker Kyle Sary.
Here’s the video of the attempted robbery:
Jewelry store employees repel smash-and-grab attempt
www.youtube.com