Burglars Came, Sawed --but Didn’t Conquer

First came the hammering, then the sounds of a saw. Wide-eyed, Bill Lundgreen stared at the ceiling of his check-cashing store and knew trouble was coming.

“I heard it and I said to myself, ‘Oh my stars! I’m being invaded!’ ” Lundgreen said. “I grabbed my gun and the phone and just prayed for help.”

It was just after midnight Monday, as Lundgreen put in some late hours, when two would-be burglars tried to cut their way into his Cash & Such store on Brookhurst Street.

Within minutes, police were quietly creeping up on the men, who were working away with saw and hammer. But for a few tense moments, Lundgreen wondered if burglars would be dropping from the ceiling.

“They were working fast, let me tell you,” he said. “The hole was about the size of a watermelon. I figured the first guy, he would come in feet first, so I decided I’d shoot him in the legs. I’m not for killing people.”

Instead, the 65-year-old store owner was relieved to see officers, police dogs and a helicopter. One suspect was caught on the roof, while the other jumped, fractured his ankle and was arrested nearby.

The suspects were identified by police as Jewell Jonte Johnson and Lavar Tramaine Smith, both of San Bernardino. Johnson was wanted for a Victorville robbery, police said.

The “whole spooky thing” seemed like a dream by Monday afternoon, Lundgreen said, except for the ragged hole above the panels of his drop ceiling.

“If I hadn’t have been here, the alarms would have been on and they would have got caught, anyway,” Lundgreen said. “I don’t think they had a very good plan.”