Thieves break into Oakland 7-Eleven, make off with ATM machine

OAKLAND, Calif. - Two break-ins at a convenience store in Oakland's Piedmont Avenue, just five days apart, are the talk of the neighborhood.

It appears thieves targeted an ATM machine that was inside.

Neighbors said they're shocked.

During the most recent incident, someone drove a vehicle through the front of the business.

Police said a thief or thieves broke into the 7-Eleven, caused extensive damage, and drove away with an ATM machine attached to a vehicle.

It happened just before 3:30 a.m. on Thursday. 

"I  came by this morning for coffee about 7 o'clock when they usually open. The lottery thing and the red box were out here in the parking lot," said neighbor Joan Sampson.

 A cashier said it's the second burglary since Saturday.

He spoke on the condition KTVU not identify him.

"'We scared.  A lot of people kind of scared.  The whole neighborhood kind of scared," said the worker. 

 He  shared photos he said s are from the first break-in.  It also happened in the early morning hours.

He said  thieves broke the large glass window with some type of object.  They  took  apart the ATM machine,  but were unable  to remove the internal safe.

It appeared they came back to get it the second time. 

 "It's a good neighborhood. But these days, kind of crazy time," said the cashier. 

The spectacle of the destruction attracted a lot of attention in the neighborhood. .

 "Something on this scale with this amount of property damage is unusual and unnerving, especially since I live quite close by," said neighbor Wendy Woolpert.  

Customer Tara Thomas said the justice system is lenient on criminals.

"A vehicle through a store," she said. "This is crazy.  This is so sad.  Get a job. Everybody's hiring nowadays."

 There are plenty of surveillance cameras inside and outside the store.   But workers said the store owner is out of the area and unavailable to give KTVU  access to videos of the burglaries.