An Oakland ice cream shop was burglarized by brazen thieves on Wednesday – mere months after the Northern California business was nearly destroyed in another robbery this summer.
Flavor Brigade in Oakland's Dimond District was broken into by the burglars at 4:45 a.m on Wednesday. The business said the suspects stole their tie-dyed shirts, safe, cash and tools. Footage shows hooded suspects walking suspiciously outside the business before entering the store.
The Mailbox, a nearby mailbox rental service, confirmed that the same suspects stole a key-copying machine and cash register on Wednesday morning.
The ice cream shop posted the surveillance video on Instagram on Thursday in a bid to find the suspects. They urged the public to look out for tie-dyed shirts, which they believe may lead them to the suspects.
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The latest incident took place three months after other assailants rammed their car into Flavor Brigade's storefront, nearly destroying the business.
Surveillance video of the July incident shows a car smashing through the shop's windows. Robbers are seen moving furniture so the car can get in, before stealing the business's ATM and taking off.
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Braedon Galloway appeared on "Fox & Friends First" in July to discuss the incident. Despite believing that Oakland is "full of a lot of great people," he said he was not surprised by the robbery.
"It's been a pattern in our neighborhood for the past couple of years," Galloway explained. "Things have been progressively getting worse. This is the third time we've been broken into."
After community members rallied together to raise money and help Galloway rebuild the business, Flavor Brigade opened again in August. But the latest robbery has discouraged employee morale.
"When the car came through, I was like, ‘Oh great, another issue.' First we had the pandemic. Then we had this. Now we have this one," employee Steve Howell told Fox 2 San Francisco.
"My question is why? What was the purpose? All you're going to do is hurt the economy, you're going to hurt the people who work hard for their money," Howell added.
