05-03-2025
San Ramon employee fights off robbery suspects
SAN RAMON, Calif. (KRON) – In the East Bay, staff at an eyeglasses store fought off a group of robbers, and it was all caught on camera. The incident happened at the high-end City Center at Bishop Ranch in San Ramon.
Shocking surveillance footage shows an employee at an optometric practice tussling with not one, but two suspected thieves.
The video from February shows four people rushing into Optical Illusions in San Ramon. Two of them get into an all-out brawl with a staff member.
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'He actually takes Krav Maga classes twice a week, so he was probably the worst person for them to mess with,' said Dr. William To, the owner of Optical Illusions.
To says while his staff was dealing with two of the suspects, he was fighting off the other two.
'We were protecting each other, we were protecting our patients, and that makes me proud. That's the decision we made in that split-second,' To said.
To says a patient and another employee were inside the store at the time. Both of them ran to the back of the store for safety.
'Happened really fast. The emotion more than anything… was stunned, like is this really happening?' said the other employee.
To says he trains his employees to not engage with people who appear irate or doing criminal acts, but because he says the thieves came toward them with tools in their hand, the patient's safety was at stake, so they had to defend themselves.
'Angry, frustrated maybe the day of and the day afterwards, but i'm not going to let this change me, I'm not going to let this change my team and my people. We will continue to serve and take care of and believe in people. That's not going to change, not from this,' To said.
To says the thieves stole $3,000-5,000 in frames, and caused $10,000-12,000 in damages to the store. To is working with San Ramon police, who are still investigating the crime.
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