Category: Security

A new Florida Senate bill would allow homeowners in the state to use “reasonable force” to take down drones that violate a homeowner’s right to privacy.

According to Fox News, the Florida bill provides additional regulations regarding the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and increases the number of locations that are protected against drone flights throughout the state, including correctional facilities and airports. If approved, the legislation would also allow Florida homeowners to use “reasonable force” to prevent drones from violating their expectation of privacy.

“No one wants to have a drone sitting over their property, filming what they do for any number of reasons,” Raul Gastesi, a Florida attorney, told Fox News. “Almost every state has laws on privacy, including drones.”

According to Fox News, it is currently legal for drones to be flown over private residential areas as long as drones remain in unrestricted airspace. However, the outlet noted that drone pilots who cause a nuisance for homeowners could face prosecution for trespassing or stalking.

READ MORE: Drone strikes on Mexican drug cartels considered by Trump admin: Report

Florida’s “Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act” currently prohibits drone operators from using unmanned aircraft to capture photos or videos of private property; however, Fox News reported that the 2024 legislation does not prohibit a drone operator from using unmanned aircraft to capture a live view of private property.

Fox News reported that under the new Florida Senate legislation, homeowners would be authorized to use “reasonable force” against drones spotted flying over private property; however, the outlet noted that the legislation currently does not provide clarity regarding what is considered “reasonable force,” which could lead to issues with the Federal Aviation Administration.

U.S. law currently prevents people from shooting down or damaging any aircraft while it is in the air. In a statement to Fox News, the Federal Aviation Administration noted, “It’s illegal under federal law to shoot at an aircraft.” The Federal Aviation Administration added, “A private citizen shooting at any aircraft – including unmanned aircraft – poses a significant safety hazard.”

Gastesi told Fox News that while certain actions are “permissible” by state law, the same actions may violate federal law. He warned, “Just because your state says you can do it, doesn’t mean the federal government won’t prosecute you for it.” 

The Federal Aviation Administration warned that if an unmanned aircraft was hit by gunfire, it could result in a crash, “damage to persons or property on the ground,” or a collision with other objects in the air.

The Federal Aviation Administration added, “Shooting at an unmanned aircraft could result in a civil penalty from the FAA and criminal charges from federal, state or local law enforcement.” 

A former Victoria’s Secret employee said she was sexually harassed by the lingerie department manager at a Philadelphia store, according to a lawsuit. And when she reported her experience, she alleges, she was retaliated against during her shifts and ignored by company higher-ups.

The claims were laid out in a lawsuit that was filed last month in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia and reported on earlier this week by Philadelphia Magazine. The suit seeks unspecified damages from Victoria’s Secret.

The North Philadelphia woman, Ionnae Alvarado-Jones, said the harassment started in February 2022, not long after she started her job as a sales associate at the Victoria’s Secret store in Liberty Place. According to court documents, a manager repeatedly told Alvarado-Jones she was “sexy,” commented on her breasts and touched her breasts and arm inappropriately.

A store manager saw this behavior and ignored it, Alvarado-Jones alleges in the lawsuit.

Alvarado-Jones also reported the harassment to the company’s ethics hotline and human resources departments, she said, but never heard back. After Alvarardo-Jones filed an initial report with the hotline, her managers at the store started to nitpick her work and scream and curse at her, according to the documents.

A spokesperson for Victoria’s Secret did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The manager accused of sexual harassment was named in the lawsuit, but not listed as a defendant. It is unclear whether any managers named in the lawsuit still work for Victoria’s Secret.

Alvarado-Jones, now 21, said the experience made her “physically sick,” and has turned her into a hyper-vigilant person, who can be sent into a panic by a tone of voice or an unexpected touch.

“Imagine being hyper-aware of every interaction, analyzing every word you say because you didn’t want to ‘provoke’ anything,” she said in a statement through her attorney, David Koller. “The anxiety became a constant hum in the background of my life, eventually clinging to my everyday thoughts, tasks, and activities.”

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© 2025 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Sean Kingston has posted bail and is no longer behind bars, after the rapper and his mother were found guilty in their $1 million federal fraud case late last month.

A lawyer for the 35-year-old “Beautiful Girls” singer, born Kisean Anderson, told TMZ on Tuesday that Kingston’s $100,000 bond “has been posted and he is in the process of being released.”

He was still in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Miami earlier in the daily, when he’d been unable to come up with the necessary cash. Some unnamed famous friends were trying to help with the funds, according to the outlet.

Kingston is now once again under house arrest, with electronic monitoring, and is required to surrender his passport. His mother is considered a flight risk and will remain in federal custody until the two are sentenced on July 11.

Last summer, Kingston and his 61-year-old mother, Janice Turner, were each indicted on five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud as part of an organized scheme to defraud luxury companies out of high-end goods.

“The defendants unjustly enriched themselves by falsely representing that they had executed bank wire or other monetary payment transfers … [then] retained or attempted to retain the vehicles, jewelry and other goods despite non-payment,” federal prosecutors said when announcing the indictment. “Through the execution of this scheme, the defendants obtained in excess of $1 million in property.”

Late last month, after just three-and-a-half hours of jury deliberation, the pair were found guilty of all charges. Both Kingston and Turner are facing up to 20 years in prison on each count.

A separate lawyer for the singer previously told TMZ that Kingston went against counsel’s advice when he refused to take a plea deal.

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© 2025 New York Daily News.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Vice President J.D. Vance warned on Tuesday that it is “not good” for Europe to be “the permanent security vassal of the United States.”

During a Tuesday interview with UnHerd, Vance said, “Europe’s entire security infrastructure, for my entire life, has been subsidized by the United States of America.”

Vance told UnHerd that besides the possible exceptions of France, Britain, and Poland, the majority of European nations “don’t have militaries that can provide for their reasonable defense.”

“It’s not good for Europe to be the permanent security vassal of the United States,” Vance said. The vice president added, “European leaders have radically underinvested in security, and that has to change.”

According to Politico, the vice president’s comments regarding Europe’s security comes as the Trump administration has repeatedly warned that European countries are currently too dependent on the United States for military protection. The outlet noted that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth previously warned that America’s military presence in Europe will not remain “forever.”

Politico reported that President Donald Trump has called for NATO member countries to increase their defense spending from 2% to 5% of their gross domestic product. According to the outlet, the spending increase could be addressed at the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague.

“I don’t think that Europe being more independent is bad for the United States — it’s good for the United States,” Vance told UnHerd.

READ MORE: Viral Videos/Pic: VP Vance shoots machine guns with US Marines

Discussing the issue of trade with European countries, Vance told UnHerd that the Trump administration will continue to take steps to ensure “fairness.”

“I think it will lead to a lot of positive trade relationships with Europe,” the vice president said. “And again, we very much see Europe as our ally. We just want it to be an alliance where Europeans are a little more independent, and our security and trade relationships are gonna reflect that.”

During Tuesday’s interview with UnHerd, Vance also emphasized the Trump administration’s current frustration with the immigration policies impacting European countries.

Vance told UnHerd, “We’re very frustrated — ‘we’ meaning me, the President, certainly the entire Trump administration — that European populations keep on crying out for more sensible economic and migration policies, and the leaders of Europe keep on going through these elections, and keep on offering the European peoples the opposite of what they seem to have voted for.”

On the other hand, the vice president also emphasized his “love” for the European people.

“I love European people,” Vance said. “I’ve said repeatedly that you can’t separate American culture from European culture. We’re very much a product of philosophies, theologies, and of course the migration patterns that came out of Europe that launched the United States of America.”

The Pentagon announced on Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration is reducing the number of U.S. troops in Syria to “less than a thousand” in the “coming months.”

In a Friday statement released by the Department of Defense, Sean Parnell, chief spokesman for the Pentagon, said, “Recognizing the success the United States has had against ISIS, including its 2019 territorial defeat under President Trump, today the Secretary of Defense directed the consolidation of U.S. forces in Syria under Combined Joint Task Force — Operation Inherent Resolve to select locations in Syria.”

Parnell explained that the “consolidation” of U.S. forces in Syria is a reflection of the “significant steps” the U.S. military has taken “toward degrading ISIS’ appeal and operational capability regionally and globally.”

While the Pentagon did not announce how many U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Syria as part of the reduction of U.S. forces in Syria, The New York Times reported on Thursday that roughly 600 U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Syria under the Trump administration.

READ MORE: US military pulling out of key Polish hub for Ukraine aid

“This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the U.S. footprint in Syria down to less than a thousand U.S. forces in the coming months,” Parnell said in Friday’s statement.

“As this consolidation takes place, consistent with President Trump’s commitment to peace through strength, U.S. Central Command will remain poised to continue strikes against the remnants of ISIS in Syria,” Parnell added. “We will also work closely with capable and willing Coalition partners to maintain pressure on ISIS and respond to any other terrorist threats that arise.”

Despite ordering the reduction of the U.S. military’s presence in Syria, Parnell emphasized that the Department of Defense “continues to maintain a significant amount of capability in the region and the ability to make dynamic force posture adjustments based on evolving security situations on the ground.”

In December, former Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters that the number of U.S. troops in Syria was much higher than the Biden-Harris administration had previously reported. While the Biden-Harris administration had initially reported that approximately 900 U.S. troops had been deployed to Syria, Ryder noted that roughly 2,000 U.S. troops had actually been deployed to Syria.

 An Idaho teenager with autism who was hospitalized for a week after being shot by police died over the weekend.

The Bannock County Coroner’s Office confirmed to the Idaho Statesman that Victor Perez, who was physically impaired, died after four officers from the Pocatello Police Department shot him several times outside his home last week.

His family took him off of life support Saturday after testing showed he didn’t have any brain activity, The Associated Press reported. He was 17. The Bannock County Coroner is expected to perform an autopsy.

“Those police broke our family,” his aunt, Ana Vasquez, told the AP. “There is no way to explain the pain that we are feeling right now. It’s like our hearts are kind of empty — it’s not full anymore.”

The shooting has sparked outrage in the eastern Idaho city after video footage circulated on social media, and showed four officers opening fire on Victor behind a fence. The incident began a little before 5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 5, after a neighbor called 911 to report a man wielding a knife in the yard of a Pocatello home. Within 20 seconds of arriving, the four officers opened fire, striking the male, later identified as 17-year-old Victor.

Video footage of the shooting taken by the neighbor showed the four officers get out of their vehicles, draw their guns, line up behind the yard’s chain link fence — which was between them and the teen — and yell at him to drop his weapon.

Victor began to stand up as the officers approached the yard, but before he could take more than two steps toward them, they fired their guns.

Victor’s family told the AP that barely any of the officers spoke to nearby family members before firing. The neighbor on the 911 call said Victor looked intoxicated. If police had stopped to ask a question, they would have learned that he wasn’t intoxicated but instead staggering because of his cerebral palsy, his aunt said.

“Everybody was trying to tell the police, ‘No, no,’” Vazquez told the AP. “Those four officers didn’t care. They didn’t ask what was happening, what was the situation.”

“How’s he going to jump the fence when he can barely walk?” she said.

In the week since Victor was shot, community members have held protests calling for police accountability and a candlelight vigil outside the Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello to mourn the teenage boy. More than 5,500 people have also signed a Change.org petition calling for an independent investigation into the shooting as of Monday afternoon.

Pocatello Police Chief Roger Schei said at a news conference that the officers gave “repeated commands” to Victor to drop the knife. He said the teen didn’t comply, stood up, and advanced toward the officers “while still armed.”

“In situations like this, officers must make decisions in seconds, they assess threats not just to themselves but to those nearby,” Schei said. “In this case, two individuals were within a few feet of an armed noncompliant individual. The risk was immediate, and the situation rapidly evolving.”

Prosecutor to decide whether to release officers’ names

Per the city’s policy, all of the officers, who haven’t been identified, were placed on administrative leave immediately after the shooting, Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad said in a statement.

It’s unclear how long the officers will remain on leave. The Pocatello Police Department didn’t respond to several phone calls or an email seeking clarity.

The Bannock County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting as part of the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Task Force. Police are also conducting an internal investigation, Schei said.

For many law enforcement agencies in Idaho, police shootings are investigated through a Critical Incident Task Force, or CITF. In East Idaho, over a dozen counties are involved in the task force, and when one agency is involved in a shooting, another agency is asked to step in and investigate the incident.

Once the investigation is complete, it will be handed over to an outside prosecutor to review the findings and decide whether the officers should face criminal charges. A prosecutor hasn’t been assigned yet, Emma Iannacone, a spokesperson for the county, told the Statesman.

Iannacone said it would be up to the prosecutor to release the officers’ names. Body-camera footage is expected to be released in the coming weeks, Blad said.

It’s rare for officers to be criminally charged following a shooting. In the last 20 years, only two law enforcement officers in Idaho — Idaho Falls Police Department Officer Elias Cerdas and Nez Perce Tribal Officer Robert Wall — faced criminal charges. Both cases were eventually dismissed.

Blad said the city’s addressing the incident “with the seriousness and thoroughness it deserves.”

“We truly recognize the difficulty and pain of this situation,” Blad said. “Everyone is looking for answers, including me and the City Council. That is why it is important to let the Eastern Idaho Critical Incident Task Force and others complete their investigations.”

“Once the investigations are complete, we will act in accordance with the findings. No determinations will be made until the independent investigators have done their job,” he added.

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© 2025 The Idaho Statesman.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Protesters advocating for transgender male athletes to continue participating in girls’ sports chanted “Hail Satan” at a California board meeting last Thursday.

According to Fox News, last week’s Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) board meeting in San Bernardino County, California, included multiple speeches by protesters on opposite sides of the transgender sports issue. The outlet noted that police officials escorted one woman out of the board meeting who opposed the inclusion of transgender athletes in girls’ sports and cited the Bible to support her position.

On the other hand, protesters supporting the inclusion of transgender athletes in girls’ sports used graphic language and chanted “Hail Satan” during the school board meeting.

In a video shared on X, formerly Twitter, by CVUSD School Board President Sonja Shaw, one protester can be heard saying, “Y’all are all a bunch of transphobic pieces of sh-t. I hope y’all burn in hell. Hail Satan b-tches” as they walked out of the meeting.

Another protester can be heard saying, “Y’all are really afraid of authenticity and people being their own true selves. You’re afraid of love. You’re afraid of solidarity. Y’all are crazy… absolutely crazy.”

Christina Salazar, a parent of one of the students who spoke at Thursday’s meeting, told Fox News that her daughter’s speech was interrupted by the protesters’ chants. Salazar told the outlet, “There was even a teacher from my daughter’s school who was interrupting the meeting yelling and said ‘Hail Satan’ as he walked out and flipped everyone off.”

READ MORE: Trump transgender military ban denied by judge

On Friday, Shaw told Fox News that the school board passed “several pro-parent and pro-female athlete resolutions that provide measures that protect girls sports and uphold the fundamental rights of parents to raise and guide their children without government interference or radical agendas.”

“In response, a small but loud group of outside agitators descended on our meeting, screaming, cussing and even chanting phrases like ‘Hail Satan’ all in front of families and children,” Shaw said.

The school board president told Fox News that the protesters allegedly tried to have outside groups rally at the school board meeting to “overwhelm” the school district. Shaw described the protester’s movement as a “complete embarrassment” that only succeeded in a “handful of angry, disruptive individuals trying to bully a community that’s working to protect kids and ensure that education remains focused on learning, not divisive ideologies.”

The school board president also told Fox News that she received a “violent and graphic death threat” prior to Thursday’s meeting due to her position against transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports. “This is the level of hatred and evil we’re up against,” Shaw said. “But no threat, no mob and no political machine will scare me into silence.”

WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT:

Warning: graphic language.

These are the people who want your kids.

They can scream all they want, but we’ll never surrender our parental rights or compromise our daughters’ safety! Heck no! pic.twitter.com/D8saBdmxNL

— Sonja Shaw (@realSonjaShaw) April 18, 2025

The Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis died on Monday morning at the age of 88 following his recent health struggles, including an extended hospitalization with pneumonia.

According to CNN, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis died early Monday morning at his Casa Santa Marta residence at the Vatican.

In a statement obtained by Fox News, Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, said, “At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His Church.”

“He taught us to live the values ​​of the Gospel with fidelity, courage and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized,” Ferrell added. “With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God.”

Fox News reported that Pope Francis was elected to succeed Pope Benedict XVI in March of 2013 and was the first non-European pope to serve in the position in more than 1,000 years.

READ MORE: Deadly shootout leads to rescue of kidnapped pastor in South Africa

According to CNN, Pope Francis was hospitalized for five weeks earlier this year after being diagnosed with double pneumonia; however, the pope was released from the hospital last month. The outlet noted that the Vatican reported last week that the pope’s health was improving.

CNN reported that Pope Francis met with Vice President J.D. Vance on Sunday and gave the Easter blessing at Saint Peter’s Basilica.

In a Sunday post on X, formerly Twitter, Vance shared pictures of his meeting with the pope, tweeting, “Today I met with the Holy Father Pope Francis. I am grateful for his invitation to meet, and I pray for his good health.”

Today I met with the Holy Father Pope Francis. I am grateful for his invitation to meet, and I pray for his good health.

Happy Easter! pic.twitter.com/SIhU9gYQl2

— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) April 20, 2025

Following the announcement of the pope’s death on Monday, Vance wrote, “I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him. I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill.”

President Donald Trump also released a statement on Monday regarding the pope’s death. In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!”

Dr. Marc Siegel, a senior medical analyst, told Fox News that the pope’s death could have been linked to a “respiratory failure event” on Monday.

“What I heard from inside sources… I heard that there was a respiratory failure event this morning, Rome time, in the morning. Five to seven AM, where he was unable to catch his breath,” Siegel said. “We don’t know what caused that. It was likely due to another asthma-type event like he had in the hospital.”

A downtown alderman’s push for a stricter curfew to curb “teen takeovers” could face tweaks before a vote as soon as Wednesday.

Ald. Brian Hopkins promised once again Tuesday to move forward on his bid for an 8 p.m. curfew for teens downtown, two hours earlier than the current citywide rule. But he said he’s open to tailoring the broad ordinance so it targets the chaotic gatherings he wants to stop, a move he may need to make to win City Council approval.

Negotiations in the council are ongoing, and Hopkins is confident he can win over a majority of aldermen, he said. He will look to the advice of Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling and police district commanders before agreeing to changes, he added.

“When they feel that an effective tool is on the table in front of them — may or may not be the perfect solution, but good enough — we are going to go with that,” Hopkins said. “But we’re not there yet.”

Hopkins’ push comes in the wake of two high-profile gatherings of young people in Streeterville that ended in violence. A 46-year-old tourist was shot in her arm on March 9 and a 15-year-old boy suffered bullet graze wounds three weeks later.

The so-called teen takeovers, fueled by social media posts, have sprung up in the city during early warm-weather weekends. They have sometimes ended in tragedy.

Johnson’s administration deserves a “good grade” for its handling of three takeovers last weekend that had been advertised online, including one gathering planned at Millennium Park, Hopkins said.

“A significant number of teens did get off the Red Line and went there looking for the party, and they didn’t see it,” Hopkins said. “They saw a large group of police officers standing at the ready, and they saw an even larger group of community-based violence interrupters, counselors, Chicago Public Schools staff, people ready to greet them and tell them you don’t want to do this here.”

Johnson said Tuesday that police prevented another takeover and responded to the third that emerged in Hyde Park, where officers made “a handful of arrests.”

“We want our young people to be able to explore every part of our city. That is their right as Chicagoans,” Johnson said at a City Hall news conference. “But we cannot allow gatherings to turn violent and put our young people and our entire communities at risk of gun violence.”

Asked where he stands on Hopkins’ ordinance, the mayor pushed back on the proposal’s current downtown focus. “Diverting the problem somewhere else, that doesn’t reflect my values,” he said.

But like Hopkins, he signaled his openness to negotiations, a softening of Johnson’s stance on the idea compared to his past comments. Without specifying what in the curfew ordinance might change, he said Hopkins had been “amenable” to some suggested alterations and added that “the table is open and we are discussing ideas.”

Hopkins said the mayor did not appear to oppose his efforts.

“He’s aware it’s happening, and he’s letting it happen,” the downtown alderman said. “What his ultimate decision will be, I won’t speak for him, I don’t know, but I know he’s just letting this play out.”

Hopkins said he may bring his current ordinance up for a vote Wednesday, try to force a vote on an amended version or send the amended version back to City Council committee, where it could be more fully vetted by aldermen.

Also Tuesday, Community Safety Deputy Mayor Garien Gatewood said nine companies had applied for a new city gunshot detection technology contract by last Friday’s deadline.

Johnson’s administrations opened the request last fall after the mayor axed the ShotSpotter acoustic gunshot detection system long used by police. The ShotSpotter shutdown, which Johnson promised in his mayoral campaign, rankled aldermen and sparked months of legislative battles over the emergency response tool.

Gatewood confirmed that ShotSpotter’s parent company, SoundThinking, was one of the companies that made a proposal. Company officials have said since shortly after Johnson ended their earlier deal that they would be among those vying for the new contract. The company will not be automatically rejected despite Johnson’s past opposition, Gatewood said.

“I’m not standing out against anyone or holding any particular organization above another,” Gatewood said.

The deputy mayor declined to discuss specific proposals, but said the process of picking from among them is already underway.

“The goal is to expedite it,” he said. “To get something to continue on the downward trend of crime that we have seen, the downward trends of violence that we’ve seen.”

According to CPD, murders are down 24% through early April compared with the same time last year, while robberies, aggravated batteries, burglaries, felony thefts and motor vehicle thefts have also seen large drops.

Asked if new technology would be put in place by the summer, Johnson didn’t answer directly. Instead, he praised his broad efforts to improve public safety, touting work to add detectives, bring in new police helicopters, expand city-run mental health care and bolster community violence prevention work.

“We’re already seeing a decline without technology,” he said. “If it were just one thing that could make us all safe, I believe the city of Chicago would have purchased that before I became mayor.”

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© 2025 Chicago Tribune.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The FBI is now investigating a jewelry heist that involved thieves tunneling through multiple walls to break into a downtown Los Angeles jewelry store over the weekend.

Millions of dollars in gold and jewels were stolen from a downtown jeweler’s two enormous safes after burglars tunneled into the Broadway shop through multiple reinforced walls, police said.

In security video of the weekend break-in, a massive drill can be heard carving through the main castlelike wall, making a hole big enough for a person to slip through to enter Love Jewels, Reina de Oro at Broadway and 5th Street.

Los Angeles Police say the thieves on Sunday night cut through a room next to the gold merchant in the 500 block of Broadway. LAPD officials said the owners informed the department that the thieves took about $10 million worth of merchandise.

LAPD Capt. Raul Jovel, who oversees the department’s central division, said the thieves tunneled into the building through the Roxy, a small movie theater next door.

“They went for some really thick old walls. They went into one small room and then through a second wall,” Jovel said. “This was serious digging.”

Jovel said initially it was thought only about $5 million in jewelry was stolen, but officials now believe north of $10 million was taken.

On Tuesday, the FBI’s major theft task force took over the investigation, according to LAPD communications director Jennifer Forkish.

In recent years, burglars have entered jewelry stores through rooftops, Joven said. Tunneling, while rare, isn’t unheard of. A business in the Fashion District was burglarized through tunneling thieves, Joven said. In Northern California, thieves last summer stole dozens of guns by tunneling into a store.

The jewelry store, which has heavy security, is known for being the source of bling for rappers, artists, and some gangsters. On social media, the store boasts images of personal necklace tributes, gold Rolex watch straps, diamond-encrusted miniature AK-47s, M-4 trinkets, and enormous racks of gold chains.

The theft is the latest in a series of cinema-style high-profile capers that have seen millions in cash, gold, or diamonds stolen while the suspects avoid detection. In 2022, as much as $100 million in jewels was stolen from a Brinks big rig. As one guard and another went into a gas station, a gang of thieves made off with the massive haul within a 27-minute window.

Then, in March of last year, thieves stole as much as $30 million from GardaWorld’s Sylmar cash storage facility. Los Angeles police responded to three alarms at the facility during the biggest heist in the city’s history on Easter weekend, but the criminals remained undetected.

In the latest downtown tunnel caper, LAPD investigators say the burglars, after entering, cut the security camera feed, and there are no images of them inside the business. However, LAPD forensic experts are examining the scene for fingerprints and DNA.

LAPD investigators examined recordings and determined the heist began about 9:30 p.m. Sunday, but the burglar crew could have begun cutting into adjacent properties earlier. The jewelers discovered the theft Monday morning when they arrived at their shop.

Investigators believe the likely high-level professional burglars spent several hours inside the business. The modus operandi of such a crime has already helped narrow the potential participants in the heist.

Burglars have taken to digging their way into vaults since at least the 1980s. Back then, there was a crew known as the Hole in the Ground Gang that tunneled under three L.A.-area banks, zipping around underground in all-terrain vehicles. They broke into two of the banks, making off with about $270,000 and the contents of safe-deposit boxes worth potentially millions.

Last March, thieves tried to tunnel into a jeweler at the Topanga Canyon Plaza in Chatsworth. According to the LAPD, the owner was working and triggered the robbery alarm despite it being the middle of the night. The thieves had broken through multiple walls in a neighboring salon and another business to reach the jeweler’s interior wall.

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© 2025 Los Angeles Times.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.