Police around San Diego County are investigating multiple delivery truck robberies, including one caught on video in the San Miguel Ranch neighborhood of Chula Vista.
"A lot of people are living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to put food on the table, struggling to pay their electric bills and you have these guys that are laughing and thinking it’s really funny that they are stealing everything," said a neighbor who saw the robbery unfold, that we're referring to as Anne to protect her identity.
Anne was not about to just stand there while four people robbed a FedEx truck in the street right in front of her house.
"You guys are on camera, FYI," Anne can be heard yelling in security camera footage of the robbery.
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Anne was waiting for a package onboard the FedEx truck. It was a gift for her son.
"Because I couldn’t see the FedEx driver, that kind of caused me to hesitate and say, 'OK, wait a minute. I don’t see him. Did they hurt him?' I was mad," Anne said.
The robbery took just 45 seconds, according to timestamps on the recording. A blue sedan pulled up next to the parked FedEx truck and four people dressed in black jumped out. Anne said they were organized and worked in assembly line fashion.
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"I’m pretty sure this wasn’t their first rodeo. I’m pretty sure they had probably done several that day," she said.
That same evening on Nov. 30, about 10 miles away on 42nd Street in San Diego, police responded to two complaints: one was the attempted carjacking of a FedEx truck the second was five individuals stealing packages out of an Amazon truck at gunpoint. While investigators haven’t linked all three, there are similarities.
"Our detectives are continuing to gather evidence, speak with witnesses, and communicate with law enforcement in the region to identify suspects and determine if the Chula Vista case is related to other similar cases within the county," CVPD Sgt. Anthony Molina wrote in part of a statement.
While you might not call it a Christmas miracle, one of the packages left behind in the street during the robbery in front of Anne's house was the gift for her son she’d been waiting for all day.
"It is maddening. The laws in this state need to change. They are enabling criminals," Anne said.
In a statement, FedEx said they're cooperating with authorities investigating similar crimes and "taking appropriate steps to address the issue."
