Thieves crash car through San Francisco electronics store

SAN FRANCISCO — Thieves drove a car through a high-end electronics store in the latest crash-and-grab heist in the San Francisco Bay Area.

San Francisco police say the crime occurred about 4 a.m. Friday at a store on California Street, causing $100,000 in damage to building. Police did not say what, if anything, was stolen.

Police are reviewing video surveillance footage of the burglary. No arrests have been made, and a description of the suspect was not released.

Police were looking into whether the burglary was related to at least six similar crimes in the San Francisco Bay Area during the last year.

Electronics, high-end clothing and purses have been stolen during past crimes. On Jan. 27, thieves smashed a stolen SUV through the front of a Wells Fargo museum in San Francisco, making off with gold nuggets that remain missing.

Other metropolitan areas have been hit by crash-and-grab heists. Since September, at least a dozen "crash-and-grab" burglaries have been reported at retail businesses in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. Some targeted high-end businesses, including a Neiman Marcus store on the famed Magnificent Mile. Others struck less affluent locations.

Police in the San Francisco Bay Area also are investigating the following crash-and-grab crimes:

— Feb. 19. Two burglars crashed their minivan through a front plate-glass window at a photography shop in Palo Alto, making off with thousands of dollars in merchandise.

— Feb. 13. A driver rammed a U-Haul truck into a chiropractic college east of San Francisco in an apparent break-in.

— Jan. 19. Two men slammed a U-Haul van through the front door of a San Francisco Patagonia store and stole hundreds of dollars worth of jackets.

— In November 2014, suspects crashed a vehicle into the Chanel boutique in San Francisco's Union Square.

— In May 2014 thieves crashed into an Apple store in Berkeley and stole merchandise.