A San Francisco marijuana dispensary was robbed overnight on Tuesday when a car crashed into the front of the building, causing extensive damage.
Security camera footage of the incident shows at least five robbers exiting two vehicles in front of Cannabis Cultures Dispensary at 2715 Judah Street in New York City's Sunset neighborhood at 4:48 a.m. Tuesday.
The gunmen are seen attaching a chain to a metal security gate from the back of an SUV and pulling it free. The vehicle is then seen crashing through the store's roll-up metal doors and into the front lobby. The gunmen are then seen ransacking the store, stuffing merchandise and merchandise into plastic garbage bags.
Additionally, surveillance cameras showed a witness across the street recording what was happening, and footage also showed a police vehicle driving down the same street about two minutes before the incident.
Store manager Alex Moorhouse said the break-in was the store's fourth in the past three months and the most destructive, but he said he couldn't immediately determine the extent of the damage or how much merchandise was stolen.
San Francisco marijuana store manager describes fourth robbery in three months 04:25
“This is the worst it's ever been,” Moorhouse told CBS News Bay Area.
On Tuesday morning, instead of opening the doors of his pharmacy to customers, Moorhouse was picking up broken glass and trying to determine what had been stolen.
“Honestly, it breaks my heart when I see it. I spend 80% of my week in the store making sure it's clean and looking good,” Moorhouse said. “I think there's a big bias from people who think cannabis is just a way for other people to make money, but we're just a specialty retailer and we're trying to be just like everyone else.”
He said the industry is already struggling as it is and that even those with insurance have to cover all repair costs out of pocket.
Customers and neighbors living near the pharmacy said they were heartbroken to see the damage.
“This is a really decent neighborhood, but when you have property, people are going to encroach on it,” nearby resident Derek See told CBS News Bay Area.
Mr Moorhouse said he had received plenty of support from neighbours despite the break-in and, despite extensive damage to the front of his shop, vowed to reopen later this week, if not by close of business on Tuesday.
“They're happy we're here, they want us to be successful, they understand the struggles we're going through, so we're really grateful that our neighbors feel the same way we do,” Moorhouse said.
The exterior of the Cannabis Culture Dispensary at 2715 Judah Street in San Francisco after a break-in on September 24, 2024. Sophie Barra
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the dispensary rebuild. Moorhouse said he learned another cannabis dispensary in the city was also raided overnight, but declined to say where.
San Francisco police were notified and taken to a report by Moorehouse, but police have not released a statement about the theft.
Sooji Nam contributed to this story.
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