Body found outside Oakland 7-Eleven, hours after robbery
OAKLAND, Calif. - An Oakland 7-Eleven store was dealt a double blow with the discovery of a dead body on the sidewalk, hours after four young men escaped with nearly all its cigarette inventory in an unrelated incident.
Oakland police gathered outside the store located at the intersection of 5th Avenue and International Boulevard on Monday after receiving reports of a deceased person on a mattress outside the store at around 9 a.m.
Sagar Sagar, a 7-Eleven employee, expressed his shock, saying, "Today I come to my store and there is dead body, very, very scared."
Featured
1 in critical condition after shooting near Lake Merritt
A woman is in critical condition after a shooting near Oakland's Lake Merritt Monday afternoon, police said.
While Sagar and fellow workers continued to assist customers on Monday, the Alameda County coroner's van arrived to prepare for the body's removal. Patrol officers were later joined by investigators from the Oakland Police Department's criminal investigation division.
Surveillance footage showed some movement near the mattress around 4 a.m. KTVU learned that law enforcement is exploring whether the body was dumped at the scene around that time.
Following the removal of the body, items such as shoes, bags, a baseball cap, and a coroner's tarp were left behind.
This wasn't the only activity at the store. Sagar, who has only been on the job for four months, said he is trying to get over the stress of being robbed.
"Yeah last night, no sleep, very scared," he said.
Around 6:10 p.m. on Sunday, a Honda Accord pulled into a parking spot outside the 7-Eleven. Four young men quickly exited the vehicle and entered the store. In a rapid and audacious operation, they looted the store, making off with nearly $10,000 worth of cigarettes and tobacco products.
Security footage captured one of the robbers taking an entire cash register, containing approximately $1,000 in cash. Within a minute, the culprits fled the scene in the Honda.
The back-to-back visits by Oakland police rattled store employees but were welcomed by a resident across the street.
The consecutive visits by Oakland police left store employees shaken, but across the street, a resident named William Peper expressed support for their presence, saying, "We need the police. Oakland can be a tough town, and they're doing their job and good I'm glad they're here."
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.