Burglar wields sledgehammer, breaks into restaurant

By Michael Chen

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    SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Surveillance video captured a man in a hoodie, taking a sledgehammer to a restaurant door in Tierrasanta, before breaking in.

“The whole window was smashed in. There was glass all over the floor,” said Elizabeth Sifuentes.

That was the scene that greeted her Monday at her family’s restaurant, Tierrasanta Mexican restaurant.

“I was devastated and heartbroken,” said Sifuentes.

The break-in was captured by surveillance cameras.

Just before 4 a.m., a man in a hoodie, wielding a sledgehammer, is seen taking aim at the front door, pounding on it for some 20 seconds, finishing with a kick.

A few moments later, he pushes in the glass and climbs in.

Inside, a flashlight lights up the darkness, as he roams the restaurant.

The intruder then went into a back room, and smashed open many of the employee lockers, leaving behind a mangled mess.

Nearby an office was ransacked.

Soon after, a small safe is seen being tossed outside the front door by the burglar, as he jumps out of the restaurant and into a waiting car, with blacked-out plates.

In total, about $500 in cash was taken, with another $1,200 in damages.

“A $800 window, it hits hard, when we’re trying to survive and stay in the community,” said Sifuentes.

The pain is something Sifuentes, whose family opened the restaurant nearly 25 years ago, has felt before.

“To feel it all over again, your heart kind of sinks,” said Sifuentes.

Last April, video captured a man using a crowbar to shatter the glass in the front, before climbing in. With the alarm going off, he would leave in a hurry, with only an empty register. He has not been caught.

It’s unclear if that burglar was the same one from the recent break-in.

Sifuentes says despite the losses, her family is determined not to let the break-ins, break them.

“You celebrate birthday, graduations. It’s such an ambience of love … We want to hold on for the community,” said Sifuentes.

ABC 10News reached out to San Diego Police to see if the two incidents may be connected and are waiting to hear back.

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