This only happens to people who keep large amounts of cash and jewelry at home. Some reasons for it are trying to stiff Uncle Sam on their taxes or recent immigrants who don’t trust banks. They should get a safe deposit box. By the way, although it is illegal to keep cash in a safe deposit box there no way for them to find out.
Even though crime is low in the BA, the perception that the local liberal governments and prop 47 are encouraging crime and homelessness is making long time residents thinking about leaving. I have friends in SF considering it.
A wealthy friend called the cops after seeing two thugs lurcking in her yard in Alamo. Ready to sell her business and house and leave California.
I have a feeling this home was specifically attacked because of one of the following reasons: (1) homeowner may be a business owner and these invaders are thinking he/she has money at home, or (2) invaders may be friends of people who have worked at the home as gardeners or handymen and they may have seen something at residence. Criminals don’t usually randomly invade a home.
Alamo is one of the safest places in the US. But you are almost robbed you will never feel safe again. Perception is reality
The problem is, the criminal element knows that these nicer, more quieter areas/neighborhoods are prime for burglarizing too. Security cameras with motion sensor systems are a must these days, if anything for deterrent effect and peace of mind. We even get hit in the Sunset because during regular business hours criminals know the homes are mostly empty and yes if they do target homes with tunnel entrances once they get in the first gate they are mostly out of sight to attack the second inside door.
My friend called the cops. Said she didn’t even time to get her gun out of the safe. But being Italian, if they had come into the house she would have blown them away with no remorse…
Yeah… I was wondering as well. $8K is a lot to wander off with unless the value is in laptops. Our jewelry and cash value is piddly.
Plus why drag people across the floor unless you’re demanding something–like access to a safe.
This is true–my parents got robbed–once in 30 years and apparently through an open window–and put bars on every window and door. Really lowers the value of the neighborhood, but they felt unsafe after that.
They’d have done better to upgrade the windows and put in an alarm system.
It seems like you are blaming the victims here. I don’t think these people were recent immigrants. And $8k is not a big amount given they took electronics, jewelry and cash. 4 laptops, 6-7 smartphones and a couple of tablets are very common for 5 adults and 2 teenagers. That itself would easily add up to $8k if you were to try to replace it.
I have the same perception. I have repeatedly heard from people in criminal justice system that usually criminals avoid burglarizing a home if they know someone is inside since the severity of crime and promptness of police response increase dramatically when a life is at stake. So, this definitely seems to be a planned and targeted attack which makes it all the more concerning.
The entire robbery took around 8mins so I believe the intent was to create fear and do a quick grab and go! That’s why the dragging and pistol whipping. They even pistol whipped the teenage girl!
I’ve heard this as well. Plus you never know if someone will be armed and will shoot you.
But 5 adults in the house? You gotta be a bit crazy to try that kind of thing. Why do it when someone is home???
The criminal gang had 5 members, at least 4 of them armed. They also had the element of surprise. So they definitely had the upper hand on these 5 adults.
And from the video on the news story, the family seems to be a typical techie couple with 2 kids who had 3 relatives visiting them at the time. It is common knowledge that such families don’t usually have guns at home so they are considered soft targets.
Still, I can’t fathom why go to such lengths unless the criminals thought they had something considerably valuable to gain when the entire family was home. Were they really hoping only for $8k? But then, most of these criminals don’t think logically the way we are theorizing right now. If they did, they would find a lot more easier and better ways to make a lot more money!
I wonder why too but my speculation is they are afraid of security alarm?
I installed security alarm and turn it on at night and while nobody is at home.
However, I don’t turn it on while many of us are at home during daytime.
Maybe, we should keep it as home mode all the time?
The alarm system dispatches call to SJPD automatically (at extra cost).
Anyway, this is really scary.
I also think they knew the victim family’s situation well. (At least, they observed for a while and chose them as target.). Their relatives were visiting them and usually relatives bring cash for travel/shopping etc.
Immigrants should buy guns and also install security systems. These criminals targeted this family for its ethnical background, can this be classified as hate crime?
All these criminals should be shot to death by police instantly
Was wondering that too–whether ethnicity played a role. But isn’t Fremont half Indian?
This kind of thing keeps happening every once in a while in south bay too. Basically thieves know that some of these households have lot of jewelry at home and wait patiently for a time when no one is at home. But if there are relatives staying with the family for months then it’s hard for them to find such a time. So they get desperate and do this kind of a thing. So the lesson here is, don’t keep valuable jewelry at home and if you do, make sure you leave home empty for a few minutes every other day. 
Indian families are known to wear more expensive jewelry so they can become target of robbery.