Thieves vandalize popular Torrance restaurant, steal safe

TORRANCE, Calif. (KABC) -- A popular restaurant in Torrance has added new security layers after it was targeted by thieves in an incident that was caught on surveillance video.

Footage captured the break-in at Aunty Maile's Hawaiian Restaurant last week. It shows two thieves crawling on the floor through the restaurant after entering through a smashed window. They then went straight for a safe that was bolted to the ground.

The owners had just returned home after attending a funeral in Hawaii when their alarm company called to alert them.

"We have an amazing community and a lot of support from the community," said owner Kai Tsukiyama. "They're all coming out just to do what they can to help us out, which is amazing. We couldn't be more thankful. It's definitely hard. We weren't prepared for it and it's one of the rare occasions when they actually got a lot, and it hurt us quite a bit."

Despite the break-in, the owners managed to repair the broken windows and reopened the restaurant without any delays.

Meanwhile, anyone with information on the break-in is urged to contact authorities.