Kimberly Balde of Chicago was sitting in a minivan, with her young nieces and an adult cousin, near San Francisco’s Lombard Street on Monday afternoon when she heard a loud and startling smash.

Kimberly looked behind her, across the back seat, to check on the children, ages 2 and 4, who were sitting in the third row. She saw that the window was broken, as well as a male suspect, who was wearing a ski mask and black gloves. The suspect was in the midst of grabbing a bag containing a laptop, a passport, the children’s birth certificates, headphones and more, she said. The strap of the bag was wrapped around the headrest where one of the girls was sitting.

The older child exclaimed, “A ninja took your bag,” Kimberly said.

“I didn’t really have time to react,” Kimberly said. “When it happened, I heard the window smash. I looked back and I looked at the kids and they were surprised. I jumped out of the car. It was a five-second deal.”

While Kimberly was rattled, she said that she’s relieved no one was hurt.

The San Francisco Police Department said it responded to the incident in Russian Hill at Hyde and Lombard streets, the top of the famous curving road, just before 3 pm

“The suspect took the backpack and got into a waiting vehicle, which was being operated by a second unknown suspect,” the department said in a statement. “The suspects then fled the scene.”

Smash-and-grab car robberies, with a thief breaking a window to steal a suitcase or purse left in the vehicle, are common in San Francisco. It’s not unusual to see the windows of multiple cars, parked in a row along an SF street, all broken.

Russian Hill falls under the jurisdiction of SFPD’s Central Station, which reports more larceny theft from cars than any other station in the city, department data showed. The station has seen a 179% percent increase in reports of theft from vehicles, when comparing data from Jan. 1 to Oct. 31 of this year with the same time frame last year.

Kimberly’s sister, Katherine, was using the restroom during the burglary and when she was returned to the car. When she saw the broken window, she was shocked.

“Throughout the whole vacation, we had been on guard with the smash and grabs,” Katherine said. “We’re aware it’s an issue in San Francisco. In Chicago, it’s armed robberies, carjackings. It’s nothing new to us. But this did surprise us.”

Kimberly had a tracking device on her computer, and she has been able to locate the laptop on GPS. The police department is investigating the incident.

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PALO ALTO (KPIX) – While Bay Area law enforcement continues to investigate numerous high-profile retail break-ins, detectives from two departments about 50 miles apart appear to have found links between two of the incidents.

Shortly after 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, a group of around 40 people smashed the windshield and broke into The RealReal in Larkspur, according to Central Marin police. The suspects were able to get into the consignment store, where they stole goods worth around $ 250,000.

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Later on Sunday, shortly after 11:15 p.m., a group of around 30-40 people in around 20 vehicles attempted to break into the RealReal in downtown Palo Alto, according to Palo Alto police. A security guard reported the incident and the suspects left after breaking the front door of the store.

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The officers later located a vehicle and arrested two inmates. Inside the vehicle, they found at least $ 15,000 worth of stolen goods from the break-in of The RealReal store in Larkspur.

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Keyonnie Jones, 20, from Richmond and Imani Barnes, 21, from Vallejo were arrested according to Palo Alto police.

Both departments are now working together to see if there are any links between the people involved in the crimes in their cities and those who committed similar crimes in other cities across the Bay Area.

“They had problems in San Francisco, they had Walnut Creek, Contra Costa, they had here,” said John Woodmansee, who lives in Palo Alto. “Of course gangs move around in the Bay Area.”

Many Bay Area locals are aware of the recent break-ins in their neighborhood and other parts of the Bay Area.

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“I hope it ends soon,” said Angela Hao, who lives in Palo Alto.

The post Hyperlink Discovered Between Smash-and-Seize Burglaries in Larkspur and Palo Alto – CBS San Francisco appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.