Encino restaurant owner watches as burglars take safe, escape before police arrive

A frustrated business owner watched on surveillance video as three burglars escaped with a safe and other items from his Encino restaurant before police arrived Thursday morning.

The incident took place around 5:30 a.m. at the El Mariachi Mexican Grill located at 15627 Ventura Blvd.

Surveillance video being watched by owner Fernando Lopez showed the suspects using some type of tool to crack open a door.

“These guys, we just have to get more sophisticated with the security systems, but we’re there watching … ‘Hey, they’re there, they’re there’ … I mean if the cops would have been here a little earlier they would have caught these guys red-handed,” Lopez told KTLA.

The suspects escaped with a safe, TVs and several bottles of tequila, according to Lopez.

He said this is not the first time his business has been robbed.

“This is Encino. We’re the top of the food chain now with the robberies,” Lopez said.

Meanwhile, residents in Encino and across the San Fernando Valley are expressing disappointment with law enforcement’s inability to catch burglars who made headlines in July by targeting home after home.

In one incident this week, a longtime Encino resident opened fire with a pepper ball gun on would-be burglars who were targeting a home across the street.

Another Encino home was hit twice by burglars earlier in July, including one instance where a woman hid inside the residence with her granddaughter and a household employee.

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