7 arrested in San Jose smash-and-grab that injured 88-year-old jewelry store owner
By Tim Fang
Police in San Jose announced the arrests of seven people in connection with a violent smash-and-grab in which an 88-year-old jewelry store owner was brutally attacked.
At a briefing on Friday, assistant police chief Brian Shab announced the results of an investigation into the Sep. 5 robbery at Kim Hung Jewelry on Aborn Road.
“From the very moment these cowards fled Kim Hung Jewelry, we have not stopped,” Shab said. “And today, that persistence has delivered results.”
According to investigators, after plowing a vehicle into the front of the business, at least 10 suspects stole thousands of dollars in items. The store owner was shoved to the floor during the smash-and-grab and was later discovered to have suffered a stroke.
He has since been released from the hospital and is recovering at home.
“This was not just an attack on a hardworking family. It was an attack on a legacy business that represents the American dream,” Shab added.
In an operation that involved more than 100 officers from multiple agencies and four different SWAT teams, authorities made a series of arrests in recent weeks.
The suspects include 21-year-old Angel Herrera of Pacifica, 31-year-old Toddisha Mayfield of San Leandro, 23-year-old Zakhari Blue-Gordon of East Palo Alto, 19-year-old Tom Donegan of Manteca, 18-year-old Jacques Samuel of San Francisco, 18-year-old Cisco Luti of South San Francisco and 21-year-old Amari Green of San Francisco.
According to police, Samuel was arrested by police in Dublin on Sep. 22. On Tuesday, Herrera was arrested in Pacifica, Mayfield was arrested in San Leandro, Blue-Gordon was arrested in San Jose and Donegan was arrested in Manteca.
Lutu and Green were arrested in Antioch on Thurssday.
During the searches, officers located a firearm, a loaded magazine, ammunition and what was described as “large quantities” of suspected cocaine.
Mayor Matt Mahan said at the briefing, “Seven people are in custody, seven suspects who brutalized an elderly man, destroyed a family business and terrorized an entire community. This was not a crime of desperation; this was organized theft and violence. The kind of smash-and-grab attack we’ve seen spreading across the Bay Area and the entire state.”
Shab said the search for the remaining suspects is not over and urged those at large to turn themselves in.
Police said suspects Mayfield, Blue-Gordon, Donegan, Lutu and Green were booked into the Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of robbery. Samuel, who is being held in San Francisco County Jail, will be extradited at a later date.
