A bicyclist is caught on camera shattering glass and breaking into several businesses sometime early Thursday morning in Valley Village and North Hollywood.
Six businesses in all were burglarized in the morning hours, and the Cara Vana coffee shop in North Hollywood appears to have been the first business targeted.
Security video shows a person ride up to the business on a bike and use a small device to break the window. When it didn’t shatter, the suspect came back a few minutes later and tried again.
“He had a mask on, on his bike, backpack, so obviously he knew what he was doing,” Kim Lopez of Cara Vana said. She said the coffee shop is a family business, and now they have to pay thousands of dollars to get the glass fixed.
About one hour later, a mile and a half away on Burbank Boulevard, a burglar on what appears to be the same bike breaks into a sushi restaurant, stealing cash and leaving a mess.
David Bitton has owned Le Sushi for decades, and found the mess when he arrived to work. “All the glass all over the floor, we called the police, they respond right away,” he said.
The North Hollywood Police Department says it’s not just Thursday morning, but that three other businesses have been burglarized in the last couple of days. They said they aren’t sure yet if they are all related.
Customers at Cara Vana showed up for their morning coffee, and ended up helping with clean up, and offering comfort. Owners say this is their second burglary this year. They say it’s getting harder to pick up the pieces and open the door.
