A FRIEND OF A FRIEND of someone close to me (that should be anonymous enough) experienced a “home invasion” of their store (as opposed to a simple “home burglary”). Thankfully it was in a different branch , not their own, but still the potential for violence and loss of life was there and enough to put the fear of God into everyone concerned.
After the gratitude that no one was hurt, and the concern over anyone traumatized by the incident, came the money shot of the day: their I.T. guy saved a clip of the whole thing for the viewing of the friend of a friend, for postgame analysis and lessons to learn.
FIRST, it’s just a matter of time before the ram-raiders realize that dairies (small grocery stores) and retail shops are not worth the effort anymore. For privacy reasons, we can’t tell you the actual line of business of the victim-store, but it does quite well, and as a result handles a lot of cash not just because of the volume of business but the nature of business, meaning it’s part of their business to do a lot of business with cash and coins.
On the other hand, ram-raiders, or kids with not-quite-developed brains smash the windows and front/facades of stores carrying away with them cigarets, lollies (candies), ice-cream tubs and ice blocks, and less than even the very modest targets they set in exchange for being the subject of a police manhunt, detention before a very short trial, and in short, efficiently ruining their young lives.
Before very long, the geniuses behind the ram-raids (which may or may not be supervised by the criminal gangs of Auckland and surrounds) will target stores like these, as they have already done.
SECOND, it was an amateur (ish) job, despite the decent planning. And I’ll tell you why. On CCTV, the guy was quick, quiet, and came in first thing in the morning, when the tills (cash registers) were just replenished and customers hadn’t started to come in. He stuck his gun under the cash window and asked the employees to give him all the items of value that they had.
This wasn’t advisable, for two reasons. A braver and more fearless victim might’ve just chopped the hand off. Secondly, there wasn’t much room around the cash window for a potential shooter to maneuver, much less shoot the firearm. It was an awkward spot to threaten innocent people at, and an awkward place to carry out the threat.
The employees however weren’t about to risk their lives, no matter what the material value of their wares. they quickly placed the valuables in a bag, and the bad guy quickly ran off with the fruits of his crime.
To make the situation improbably funnier, the robber actually dropped the gun while receiving the stolen goods, probably because in such a small space (the opening through a transaction window), you can’t hold both a gun and a bag of loot at the same time. Almost comical, but extremely dangerous nonetheless.
It was a busy street, it was in broad daylight and the employees were working behind bulletproof glass. The offender bypassed all these obstacles with good timing, and having the audacity to point his gun through a glass, certainly with both good and bad possible outcomes. But at the time, he got away with it.
But only the beginning was well planned. The end? Not so much.
Evidently the project planned for as many details as possible, but only until the getaway from the scene of the crime. Once the criminals realized they would have to convert the proceeds into actual cash, they didn’t think it through.
Guess what they did? To liquidate their loot, they went to another branch of the same place they robbed. Duh. Within the same business day.
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Which still wouldn’t have been too bad, except that the same perpetrator of the fresh crime was distinguished by the very distinctive “body art” he wore on his arms, probably the most visible part of his body, second to his face (which some of his kind are known to wear, no kidding).
He was immediately spotted by the 2nd branch’s employees and the entire mall around the said branch was put into lockdown, just to arrest the guy.
So many lessons to be learned here, but for now let’s just say:
In New Zealand and elsewhere, Crime Does Not Pay.
