Santa Monica business ransacked by burglar overnight
A Santa Monica business owner is picking up the pieces after her designer handbag store in Santa Monica was ransacked early Saturday morning.
Security cameras from neighboring businesses showed a man pulling a trash bin in front of the store around 3:15 a.m. and swinging it towards the glass door.
After breaking it, the man stole more than 30 of the most expensive bags business owner Susu Zheng designed.
Zheng, who brought her business to Los Angeles from China in 2012, is devastated after the burglar stole thousands of dollars worth of handbags from her store.
"It's very difficult to build a business to this point. It's a lot of sacrifice," she told CBSLA Reporter Kandiss Crone.
She just opened her first store along Main Street last December after a rough two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Zheng said she works 70 hours a week to design each Italian leather, handmade bag.
"I came here to pursue my dreams," Zheng said. "It's my dream, my passion, my hope and it's also my living to support my child."
The Santa Monica Police Department responded and took fingerprints, but do not yet have a suspect description, as Zheng's camera inside wasn't working properly. She said this setback won't stop her from reaching her goals and that she wanted to speak up so other business owners and neighbors will be on alert.
