A person broke through the front door of Pet Partners #2 on East Broadway near Redondo Avenue in Long Beach at about 2:53 a.m. Sept. 9, remained inside for only a few minutes and left without taking anything. The incident followed a June 14 burglary at the store, and manager Edwin Jara believes the same person may have been involved in both.
Jara described the two incidents and the available surveillance footage to the Long Beach Post. He pointed to similarities in the suspect's clothing and face covering, as well as footage showing the person leaving on a Lime rental bike or scooter after each break-in.
The June suspect wore a black Jason Voorhees hoodie, blue jeans, Jordan sneakers and a black backpack, and quickly located and shut off the store's Wi-Fi, according to the report. In September, the person wore a camouflage zip-up hoodie, blue jeans, a facial covering and a black backpack. “Everything is so similar, and they went straight for where the cash was at before,” Jara said.
Damage Will Cost Thousands to Repair
Replacing the shattered glass door and window from the latest break-in will cost Jara thousands of dollars, the outlet reported. The store's second location had opened just over a year earlier and was beginning to see sales increase before the June burglary disrupted business.
How the break-ins fit Long Beach crime reports
Commercial burglaries rose 55.6% citywide in 2024, according to Long Beach Police Department data reported by the Long Beach Post. That figure does not establish a trend specifically in Belmont Heights or nearby East Long Beach. The Long Beach Police Department's crime dashboard allows users to examine reported crime by time range, division and offense type, but the verified information available here does not provide neighborhood-specific totals for the 12 months before and after the Pet Partners incidents.
Other Long Beach businesses also reported nighttime commercial break-ins during the broader period. KTLA reported that Speak Cheezy in Belmont Heights was burglarized Sept. 30, 2024, and that the suspect took the cash register, unlike the Pet Partners burglar, who left empty-handed. In a separate 2023 investigation, police said suspects broke into several businesses through front doors and stole cash and electronics, including in a Feb. 3, 2023, burglary in the 2100 block of East 4th Street; police later announced arrests in that case. Those incidents differ from Pet Partners because the available account does not report an arrest or stolen property in either of the store's two break-ins.
Pet Partners has one other location in Alamitos Beach. Long Beach police officers responded to the store after each burglary, and Jara said he provided security camera footage to investigators both times.
Police Assign Case to Burglary Detective
Long Beach police spokesperson Andres Bonilla told the outlet that both cases were assigned to a burglary detective but declined to discuss the investigation further. Police have not publicly confirmed that the same person committed both break-ins; that remains Jara's assessment based on the similarities he observed.
Jara is offering a $1,000 reward for information that helps identify the burglar. Tips can be sent through the store's Instagram page or by calling 562-342-4114. He is also considering roll-down security bars for the storefront.
