Business owners in San Jose are boarding up their windows after someone entered at least two establishments with a hammer and smashed them.
It happened Tuesday morning in the area of Berryessa and North Capitol Avenue.
Dat Thieu is the owner of Frank & Furter’s Handcrafted Hot Dogs. He was cleaning the tables and getting ready for the lunch rush at about 11:20 a.m. when he noticed someone walk in and toward the kitchen.
“I follow him in back here, and that's when I noticed he had a hammer in his hand,” said Thieu.
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Surveillance video shows the terrifying moments Thieu tries to take the hammer from him. The suspect turns toward Thieu and starts swinging the hammer at him.
As Thieu is backing up, the two make it into the dining room and he grabs a chair pushing the suspect back out the door.
“As he’s walking out the store, I thought that was the end of it, until he turns back and starts smashing our windows in,” said Thieu. “At that point, I was pretty upset, I didn't want him to get away with doing that, I followed him outside, told my employee to call 911.”
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San Jose police say officers responded to North Capitol Avenue earlier that morning at about 10:30 a.m. for a report of an armed robbery.
Just across the street from Frank and Furter’s, at the Extra Mile at the Chevron Gas Station, surveillance video shows the same man smashing their windows, one hour earlier.
Police say he was taken into custody a little before noon. They say he damaged a number of businesses.
Thieu had just finished remodeling his restaurant three days ago. He said the repairs will cost about $4,000.
“It’s tough right now, business is slower, not just for us, industry as a whole,” he said.
But he added that he’s grateful that he and his employee are OK.
