SAN DIEGO — The holiday season has soured a bit for an Ocean Beach business that has been burglarized twice in the past few weeks.
Surveillance cameras caught a thief as he busted his way into The Template, a coffee shop and community space, last Tuesday morning.
“They hopped our eight-foot gate and kicked open the back door and kicked open the office door and stole our cash register and our change box,” co-owner Shine Ray said.
Owners put in newly-reinforced doors and an upgraded security system, after they were burglarized just a few weeks earlier.
Owners believe it’s the same guy in both incidents — each one costing the business thousands of dollars.
“It’s absolutely intense. The overhead for us is so extreme here by the beach and to have something like this happen, it just took us to the floor,” Ray said.
A GoFundMe account is now set up — owners say they need help from the community to stay open.
Meanwhile, concerns over crime and violence are on the rise in OB.
Two weeks ago, outside of Hodad’s, surveillance video captured a group of men attacking another man and his dog.
Police say they have now identified four attackers in that case.
“Having a string of recent events — the couple burglaries at Template and then, obviously, the incident in front of Hodad’s –that’s getting a lot of attention — definitely brings people’s awareness up,” said Corey Bruins, president of the Ocean Beach Town Council.
Bruins is busy organizing Saturday’s holiday parade and that includes a security plan.
SDPD says additional officers will be working the event.
“I do know that they have been monitoring the situation in OB and are paying attention very closely. We haven’t had any major incidents at the parade and we expect the same this year,” Bruins said.
The OB Holiday Parade is set for 5 p.m. Saturday.