An Oakland restaurant owner was robbed by multiple suspects after his vehicle crashed and flipped upside-down in a Mad Max-style car chase.
The harrowing event occurred early Friday morning on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland, California – a city likened to a hellscape in the Mad Max film series, where gangs roam in packs of vehicles in search of fuel.
Photos and videos captured the victim’s Honda Accord flipping and landing on the Lake Merritt walking trail, as witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots after the crash.
The car chase started at International Plaza, a strip mall in the Little Saigon neighborhood that has been targeted by burglars in the past, as KTVU reported.
The victim, who has not been identified, noticed three cars tailing him and tried to drive away before the alleged robbers pointed a gun at him and stole his belongings.
‘The front car flipped and crashed. (The) following cars stopped and several (people) dressed in black jumped out and started to surround the crashed car,’ a videographer who witnessed the incident told KRON 4.
An Oakland restaurant owner was robbed by multiple suspects after his vehicle crashed and flipped upside-down in a Mad Max-style car chase on Friday morning
The victim, who has not been identified, noticed three cars tailing him and tried to drive away before the alleged robbers pointed a gun at him and stole his belongings
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is facing a recall amid a surge of violent crime in the city
Surveillance video obtained by police shows the victim was chased by a Dodge Charger, a Cadillac and a Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk on Lakeshore Avenue for about a mile.
‘One of the vehicles collided with the victim’s vehicle, causing the victim’s vehicle to rollover,’ Oakland police officer Rosalia Lopez wrote.
The victim ended up flipping over near Lake Merritt and finding himself surrounded by the suspects, including one who alleged pointed a gun at him.
His wife, who was ‘scared and frustrated’ by the robbery, said: ‘He noticed that there’s four cars driving in, so he drove off.
‘They point a gun at him. They took his gun and money. It’s a small handgun to protect himself,’ she added.
Authorities said that suspects fired multiple gunshots as they fled the scene, but the victim was not hit.
Officer Lopez said: ‘An armed individual exited one of the vehicles and took the victims personal belongings before fleeing the area.
‘As the three vehicles were fleeing the area, the victim (heard) gunshots. The victim was not struck by gunfire during the incident.’
The harrowing event occurred on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland, California – a city often likened to a hellscape in the Mad Max film series (pictured), where gangs roam in packs of vehicles in search of fuel
Both witnesses and the victim reported being put on hold when they dialed 911 during the car chase and the robbery.
The videographer said, ‘While all of this was going on, myself and at least four other people had dialed 911 and were on hold.’
‘I was on the call with 911 while they was chasing me!’ the victim told witnesses.
The suspects were last seen in cars on Lakeshore Avenue toward Interstate 580, authorities said.
The Mad Max-style car robbery occurred less than a week after a Oakland 7-Eleven security guard was shot dead during a store robbery.
James Johnson, 59, was shot by a suspect inside the convenience store as the security guard tried to stop the suspect from stealing merchandise last week.
James Johnson, 59, was shot dead by a suspect inside a 7-Eleven in Oakland last week after he tired to stop them from stealing merchandize
Johnson worked at the 7-Eleven in the Adams Point neighborhood for about two years and lived in a house behind the store
The Oakland DA was elected in 2022 and has faced major criticism as the crime rate in Oakland and the entire Bay Area has rapidly increased
Johnson’s daughter who went by the name Snow said her father worked at the store for approximately two years and that he lived in the building behind it in the Adams Point neighborhood.
‘He was protecting the family at 7-Eleven, ’cause I know how my father is. He would do that for anyone he cared and loved,’ Snow tearfully said to KPIX 5 News.
Investigators said they have surveillance video that captured the crime but have not arrested the suspect.
As Snow broke down in front of the store, she revealed she and her father recently lost her mother, Julie Johnson, just ten months ago.
‘She died four days before my birthday and I just found out from my little brother that my dad died,’ Snow said.
Violent crime is running rampant across the Dem-led Californian city, with business owners now comparing the area to a ‘battleground’ akin to wartime Vietnam.
Residents have to to leave their car windows down to prevent the glass from being shattered when thieves break in.
There have been 3,469 robberies including 1,554 that had firearms involved this year in Oakland, a 36 percent increase from the previous year.
In August Oakland NAACP leaders called for a state of emergency over the soaring crime rate and blamed Price for it
Restaurants in Oakland have been losing thousands a week as diners have their cars and jewelry robbed mid meal – with locals now avoiding the city’s downtown area.
Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is facing a recall as a result, with hundreds of locals forming a group, named Save Alameda for Everyone, in a bid to oust Price from her position because of her soft-on-crime approach.
In October, volunteers took to the streets in East Oakland in an effort to recall Price, who was elected in 2022 as the district attorney of Alameda County.
And back in August, Oakland NAACP leaders called for a state of emergency over the soaring crime rate, as they attributed it to the defund the police movement and Price.