Thief breaks into SUV parked in Oakland with victim sitting inside

OAKLAND, Calif. - Another car burglary in Oakland was caught on camera, but this time the victim was sitting inside his SUV, unaware of what had happened.

Surveillance video shows a man getting out of a Cadillac XT6. He creeps up to the back of a Buick Envision SUV, pops the trunk open and steals a backpack. He gets back into the Cadillac, which drives off.

The video then shows Tyson Wrensch getting out of his rented Buick just seconds later. He was inside the SUV the whole time at about 5 p.m. Thursday, parked in a lot off 98th Avenue near I-880 not far from Oakland International Airport.

"I'm in my car, I should be safe, and then you see him  reach down and push that little button," Wrensch said.

Wrensch assumed he had accidentally hit the trunk button on his key fob. 

"I feel dumb because I'm oblivious. I'm on the phone, I'm looking down, distracted," he said.

In fact, it was several hours before he realized someone had taken his backpack with his laptop, passport and documents inside. 

It wasn't until he viewed the surveillance video that he realized what had happened. He was the latest car burglary victim, only this time, with a twist. 

"It's one thing to come out and find your car broken into, and you're upset. It's another thing to be in your car and have it broken into. I mean, how can anyone feel safe anymore?" Wrensch asked.

In the parking lot, signs are posted anywhere warning people not to leave valuables in their cars. Technically, Wrensch says he did just that. 

"I followed the rules, and i still got robbed!" he said with a rueful laugh.

Moments before the theft, the thieves drove up in the Cadillac. A man gets out, looks in the back and the side - and apparently gets spooked by seeing Wrensch inside. The Cadillac leaves - but backs up, and the scofflaw returns to steal the backpack.

"I'm OK," Wrensch said. "I can replace everything. But it's still unsettling, right here in the chest."

But it doesn't end there. On Monday, as KTVU was recording surveillance video of the incident, an SUV pulled up outside the same victim's Buick, parked almost exactly in the same spot. Someone got out and appeared to look into the SUV.

A witness runs up to the suspects' vehicle, which then takes off. 

Wrensch called KTVU after the interview. It turns out his rental was broken into - again, which he didn't realize at first. The San Francisco resident he has no plans to park - or even sit - in a car in Oakland anytime soon.