Alex Baker and Ella Sogomonian
4 hours ago
(KRON) — A bold armed robbery took place at an Oakland 76 gas station during daylight and was captured on surveillance camera. The footage shows a gray sedan pulling up to a pump across from a white SUV.
A person wearing a hood exits the sedan and opens the back of the SUV. Other individuals also exit the car and help in taking the victims’ belongings. Another person wearing a hood is seen exiting the car and pointing a gun at the victims’ vehicle.
A bystander in the background raises their hands upon seeing the gun. The hooded individuals then return to the gray car and speed away with the stolen property.
According to the parents of one victim, one of the suspects broke the back window of the SUV and assaulted one of the victims with a gun.
“He puts it to my son’s chest and starts hitting him on the chest and on the waist with a gun, and my son had on watches and bracelets, and they start pulling those things off from him,” said Maxey Scherr, the mother of one of the victims. “They put their hands, I’m sorry, they put their hands into his pocket, and they start screaming and yelling at him. Another gunman goes to the passenger and does the same. They go into the window and stat reaching into his pants. They took everything these kids had. They took their luggage they took my son’s cellphone.”
The Oakland Police Department reported that the robbery occurred on Jan. 29 just after 2:30 p.m. at the 76 location in the 400 block of Hegenberger Road. Officers arrived at the scene and were informed that while multiple victims were in a vehicle, a second vehicle pulled up next to them.
Multiple individuals exited the second vehicle and began to steal from the victim’s vehicle, police stated. One person from the second vehicle brandished a firearm and demanded all the victim’s belongings.
The victims, who were visiting California from Texas, surrendered their belongings out of fear, the police said. The suspects fled with the victim’s property.
The victims were surprised by the response from the gas station and law enforcement. Scherr said that the gas station clerk laughed when they asked for help, mentioned that this happened daily, and advised them to leave or else the thieves might return and shoot them.
The victims had been to wine country and were on their way to return their rental car when the incident occurred.
“I don’t think it should be normalized, I mean this was a serious crime,” said Victor Obevoen, the father of one of the victims. “This was a gun being pulled on my son minding his business, trying to fill up the gas in his rental car and return it. Had good experience and this all ruined it.”
Several businesses on Hegenberger Road have recently been affected by crime. In the past month, a Denny’s restaurant and an In-N-Out burger announced they were closing due to crime.
The investigation into the incident at the 76 station is ongoing, according to OPD. Phone calls to the 76 gas station went unanswered.
