ORINDA, Calif. (KGO) -- Residents in Orinda were stunned by a bold smash-and-grab robbery over the weekend in the busy downtown consignment store, near the police station.
The consignment store owner shared a surveillance video showing five masked men swarming the store as they used pepper spray on staff and customers before swinging hammers to shatter four glass display cases. They wore gloves and scooped up thousands of dollars worth of gold
Rita was pepper sprayed but declined to give her last name. "I was showing a nice customer a rug by the front door and my first thought was being hit, and they sprayed me with pepper spray," Rita said.
Cindy, the owner of the store said, "We've been in business 25 years and never had this happen before. We're totally wired with all the devices. Five people rushed into our showroom with masks and hoodies. The typical story you hear about the smash-and-grab. They pepper sprayed our customers and they pepper sprayed my staff. One of our staff was in the back pressing our panic button, that's why the police were here so quickly."
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The Orinda Police Department is across the street from Hilton House Consignments and there was a busy farmers market that morning, a block away.
There's lots of surveillance video from inside the store and on the streets of Orinda. Hilton House Consignments owner hopes police can piece together the escape route and the getaway vehicle, which witnesses say was a grey SUV with a stolen license plate.
Police declined to go on camera but said the suspects car sped onto westbound Highway 24 through the tunnel.
A GoFundMe campaign has already raised over $1,500 to help the store make repairs that won't be covered by insurance.