This browser does not support the Video element.
Woman followed home in Alamo and robbed
A woman, who had just returned to her home in Alamo, was confronted and held at gunpoint by masked men who had been following her. We spoke to the victim who told the men she was a mother and asked not to be hurt.
ALAMO, Calif. - An Alamo woman was followed home and robbed at gunpoint by several men, authorities said.
Surveillance video shows the 61-year-old woman pulling her Mercedes G. Wagon into her garage in Alamo on Tuesday afternoon. About a minute later, a Lexus IS 350 slowly backs into her driveway. The woman thought she knew them at first.
"I realized I didn’t recognize them, and two men jumped out with a gun," the woman, who didn't want to be identified, told KTVU on Wednesday.
"And when I realized that I was being robbed, I just started screaming," she said.
One man had an AK-47-type rifle. The woman says she pleaded with the robbers.
Oakland police issue new smash-and-grab warning
Oakland police say robberies have increased by 32% so far this year totaling 715 incidents, compared to 540 robberies during the same time period last year.
"I specifically said, ‘I’m a mother, I have children, you have a mother and a father, please don’t hurt me.’ "
They robbed her of her jewelry, including a Rolex watch, rings and a diamond necklace.
As the men got back into the Lexus driven by a third person, the woman was able to get a partial plate of the car, a plate that belonged to a different car. Sheriff’s deputies spotted the Lexus on Highway 24 in Orinda but lost it as it headed toward the Caldecott Tunnel to Oakland. The suspects are on the run.
Sheriff’s detectives came to her home to document the stolen jewelry and collect evidence.
She says she's not sure when they started following her, only that they ended up at her home on the grounds of the Round Hill Country Club.
She says she’s shaken up but grateful that it’s only property that she lost.
"I’m still in shock a little bit, but I think the takeaway from this is that we all have to be aware of our surroundings, and when you pull into your garage, don’t get out. Close your garage, and then get into your house," she said.
She’s a women’s clothing-store owner who wonders if she somehow could have inspired them to choose a different path, "that if I taught them business, or if they were taught young, that they would have a fruitful career and they wouldn’t have to result in this behavior and land themselves in jail, if not worse."
Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan