Smash-and-grab costs store $6,000 in equipment

Newport Beach Police are looking for burglars who took more than 22 cameras and a laptop from a Newport Beach Radio Shack store in a smash-and-grab early Thursday, police said.

Employees of the store at 2700 W. Coast Highway said glass was everywhere, but they were able to clean up in time to open the store for business that morning.

The thieves broke into the store through a rear entrance. It appears a rock was thrown through a window to help them get in, police said. They headed straight to the middle of the shop, where glass cases held the cameras and computer. Those were also smashed, store employee James Anderson said.

Anderson said he wondered if he may have previously served the burglars.

"I know they had been in the store before because of specific targeted areas" that were hit, Anderson said.

The store reported an estimated loss of $6,000, Sgt. Evan Sailor said. Police were notified by the store's alarm company, Sailor said.

— Kelly Strodl