San Francisco crime surge: Shoplifting up 7.8% year to date
San Francisco Police Sgt. Tracy McCray joins 'America's Newsroom' to speak about the crime spike in the city, says the impact is felt throughout the community and neighborhoods
A person was seen in video circulating on social media breaking car windows in the San Francisco Bay Area and stealing items from the vehicles as the city struggles with an increase in such brazen crimes.
"A driver shared dash cam video showing smash-and-grabs in Fisherman’s Wharf," reads a caption on an Instagram post Wednesday showing video footage of the scene.
The video showed an unidentified individual wearing a hoodie exit an Audi sedan, breaking windows on parked cars and taking what appeared to be backpacks.
SAN FRANCISCO SEES INCREASE IN SHOOTINGS, ASSAULTS
The city’s Central District struggled with a staggering 753% increase in car break-ins from May 2020 to May 2021. The Central District includes tourist hotspots such as Fisherman's Wharf and Chinatown.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, announced an up to $100,000 reward Tuesday for information to help identify, arrest and convict the perpetrators behind the crimes.
"The criminals are committing these acts in broad daylight in this city," Breed said at a news conference.
FILE - San Francisco police cars sit parked in front of the Hall of Justice on Feb. 27, 2014 in San Francisco. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) (Getty Images)
While the mayor was speaking, a couple visiting the city from Seattle fell victim to such a crime just a few blocks away.
SAN FRANCISCO CAR BREAK-INS UP OVER 750% IN SOME AREAS, POLICE SAY
"This happened just a few blocks from where mayor @LondonBreed announced a new plan to cut back on break-ins in #SanFrancisco. The couple is visiting from Seattle," local ABC reporter wrote in a tweet of the incident, accompanied by photos.
"We both had our backpacks, he had his work laptop in there," Anna Przybylowicz told ABC7 of what was in the car during the crime.
A TikTok star and Australian singer-songwriter visiting the city also said this week that he was robbed at gunpoint, with the suspects taking equipment from his parked car.
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"They all pulled guns on us. So it was me and two of my mates. And we were filming the whole documentary together, and it was very weird. It was very scary having a gun to my face. First time in my whole life that I'd had a gun to my face. I was peeing my pants, very aggressively. Not actually, but in my head I was," Clinton Kane recounted to a local news outlet.
