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Two men smashed the front door of the downtown Palo Alto Apple store early Wednesday morning and stole nearly $12,000 in laptops, according to Palo Alto police.
Officers responded to a call reporting vandalism at the store, located at 340 University Ave., at about 1:50 a.m. They quickly realized the burglars had smashed the glass door and removed it from its hinges, Sgt. Craig Lee said.
The thieves snatched nine laptops from display tables, with two ending up on the sidewalk. The remaining seven laptops are valued at $11,893, he said.
Surveillance cameras captured images of the thieves, who appeared to both be male. They wore masks to obscure their faces, Lee said. One man wore all dark clothing; the other wore black pants and a gray sweatshirt.
The Apple store is no stranger to theft, having faced even more significant losses in the past. In December 2016, thieves crashed an SUV through the front door and stole an undisclosed sum of merchandise. Last September, eight men entered the store and grabbed iPhones and other electronics valued at $60,000. Less than 11 hours later, thieves used a large rock to smash the front glass door and took $10,000 worth of merchandise, according to police reports.
Palo Alto police are investigating the April 10 crime. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the department’s 24-hour dispatch center at 650-329-2413. Anonymous tips can be emailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent by text message or voicemail to 650-383-8984. ips can also be submitted anonymously through the police’s free mobile app, downloadable at bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.