News of the brazen robberies spread quickly. Cali Kamala opened her café in the Dimond District just four months ago. She says there's been a surge of crime there.
"We know a bunch of my customers who actually left the neighborhood because of the increase in crime," she said.
The first robbery took place at about 8:45 a.m. at a Mexican restaurant in the 1400 block of Fruitvale Avenue. The manager told us, the robber fired at least six rounds into the wall and then he demanded money. The only worker there said there was none in the cash register so the robber took two bottles of tequila instead
"He didn't fire right away; he asked for money and I said give him the money," Stephanie Horn said.
The robber then hit Horn's beauty salon in the Dimond District, a neighborhood of shops and restaurants, many of them small mom and pop businesses. Just like the restaurant,Horn had just opened her shop, so she had only a small amount of money in the cash register.
"He requested for more, so I said we just opened the shop at 9 a.m. and this is all we have," Horn said.
It was not the answer the gunman wanted.
"One woman was standing right there, so he fired there," Horn said, showing ABC7 News a hole in the wall where the bullet hit.
The woman was not hit by the gunfire.
Then the robber ran out and entered a Subway sandwich shop, where he demanded money from a worker here.
"I heard three shots: bang, bang, bang, like that," a pedestrian that was nearby at the time but did not want to be identified said.
The pedestrian said saw the robber run out the door after he heard the shots.
'This guy comes blazing out of Subway, waving a gun, screaming, 'get the hell out of the way;' he started chasing my friend with his gun, pass him up and he got into his car, jumped on the freeway and left," the man said.
Saturday is the Oktoberfest celebration. Some merchants are concerned Friday's armed robberies may put a damper on it.
