(NewsNation) — Dramatic video of jewelry store employees in El Monte, California, tussling with a robber has gone viral, serving to highlight the state’s ongoing wave of smash-and-grab robberies.
The robber in the incident that went viral first sprayed store workers and customers alike with a can of bear spray before he started smashing open glass containers to get the jewelry inside.
That’s when the store employees “engaged the suspect,” in the words of the local police, fighting with him until he fled the scene.
In the Los Angeles area, where El Monte resides, there’s a sense among business owners that these thefts could happen at any moment.
“We’re all scared, you know. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to react. I just did what I had to do at that moment,” said one of the women who worked as one of the El Monte store’s employees.
Retail crime has been a persistent problem in California, despite increased state and local law enforcement efforts to combat it.
Just last month, a 35-year-old flagship Nordstrom store in San Francisco announced that it would be closing its doors in response to ongoing crime and disorder.
