Thieves plow car into Bellflower business, steal $100K in merchandise

Car crashes through Bellflower storefront

More than a dozen thieves made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars of merchandise after a car drove through the front of Hype Kingdom in Bellflower. The owner said the robbery comes after they reinforced the store following an earlier robbery attempt.

BELLFLOWER, Calif. - More than a dozen thieves stole thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from a Bellflower clothing store after driving a car through the front door. The owner told FOX 11 the robbery happened just weeks after he'd reinforced the storefront after another robbery attempt.

It happened around 4:45 a.m. Hype Kingdom owner DJ said he was woken up by security footage on his cell phone, showing a car busting through the front of his store, followed by about 15 thieves rushing in and ransacking the place.

"It's very heartbreaking because I put a lot of hard work into it," said DJ.

The thieves left shattered glass everywhere, and other merchandise scattered across the floor.

DJ said there were break-in attempts back in December, including one right before Christmas. He said he thinks the crew that struck over the weekend was likely the same group that tried to get in back then.

After those break-in attempts, though, DJ said he decided to ramp up security at the store.

"We had a security door, an actual security gate with three locks, an additional deadbolt on our main door with a buzzer door (and) a security wall behind it with a barricade," DJ said.

All of that didn't stop the thieves this weekend.

DJ is a community-oriented man. The "Hype" in Hype Kingdom, he said, means "Help Your People Elevate."

DJ said this robbery wasn't going to keep him down, which, if you know his history, doesn't sound surprising. He started reselling sneakers 10 years ago, at the age of 13. He stood in long, Black Friday-like lines to get the most popular shoes he could to resell. He's also creating his own line of jeans, and a shirt brand with a manufacturer overseas.

"This is a setback for us, but we're gonna be back stronger and better," he said.

Though when he does come back, he said he may want to do so in a mall, as opposed to a strip mall, where thieves can just drive through the front of your storefront with a car.

The 15 suspects are still on the run. Police said that the car used in the break-in may have been stolen from a local Navy recruiting office.