Oakland bars and restaurants hit in early-morning burglary spree

Several bars and restaurants in Oakland were hit during an early-morning burglary spree Wednesday within minutes of each other, police said.

The Alley, a historic piano bar on the 3300 block of Grand Avenue in the city's Grand Lake neighborhood, was one of the locations where burglars forced their entry and stole a number of items.

Hector Batista, a spokesperson for The Alley, told CBS News Bay Area that it and the neighboring Almond and Oak restaurant and bar were burglarized just after 5 a.m. Wednesday morning.

"They came through these doors and they took out the ATM which was located right here and they also took out our register so we had to put a replacement here, they ripped that out as you can see in the surveillance camera," said Batista.

This is the second time in less than two years that the bar has experienced such a nightmare.

"The fact that this keeps happening and, you know, cars getting broken into all the time along this street is a shame when it's just a small mom-and-pop sort of business," Batista said.

Surveillance footage provided by the establishment showed several burglars gaining access and taking items from behind the bar that first opened in 1933.

Oakland police said responding officers learned that "multiple individuals forced entry into two businesses in the area, took several items, then fled the area prior to officers arriving on scene."

Just minutes later, burglars broke into Radio bar on the 400 block of 13th Street in the city's downtown area. Police said officers responded to a burglary alarm activation just before 5:15 a.m. and found evidence that a burglary happened. No other information was provided.

A fourth burglary was reported at The Fat Lady Bar & Restaurant less than a mile from Radio at about 6:45 a.m. Police said officers also found evidence of a burglary but provided no additional details.

It was unknown whether the same group of burglars was responsible for all four burglaries.

Police asked anyone with information about any of the burglaries to contact the department's Burglary Unit at (510) 238-3951. Anyone with videos or photos that could help in the investigation were asked to send them to cidvideos@oaklandca.gov.