SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A pair of brazen thieves ransacked a Poway comic book store just before sunrise on Super Bowl Sunday.
Willie Glover didn't open Poway's Opticomics for the money. He did it for the connections.
"A lot of the people that come in here, I would see them at Walmart, at Target, we would run into each other, it's just great, the community is great," he said Tuesday.
His one-room shop on the edge of Poway's Garden Road Self Storage and Offices offers new comic books for $3 to $6, limited edition ones for $30 to $50, and collector's items that go for more than $1,000.
But when Glover walked into the shop Sunday morning, the shelves were empty.
"I saw my comics all over the place and I was confused because I didn't leave my door open, I don't know why my comics were on the floor, and I walked in and turned around and saw (the display case) completely empty," he said.
With the front door deadbolted and grates on the window, surveillance video shows one man hopping a barbed-wire fence to access the shop's backdoor, which only had a standard doorknob lock. While he broke in and collected the comics inside, his partner used a power tool to break open the back gate, allowing them to carry out boxes of items into their getaway car.
Glover, who didn't have insurance, estimates he's out $10,000 to $12,000 in items.
"I was angry and just, violated," he said. "I wish I would have been here to be able to do something."
Glover doesn't recognize the two men from his shop, but he's canvassing the area to find clues, while checking websites for his one-of-a-kind comics to be on sale. He also set up a gofundme page.
Meanwhile, ABC 10 News reached out to the sheriff's department for an update on the case.
