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Video shows thieves smashing a vehicle’s windows and stealing thousands of dollars worth of professional music equipment in Hollywood.
The victim, Louise Van Veenedaal, is the lead singer of a local band called BoomBox Heroes. The 12-piece band performs at weddings, events and sports games.
On Dec. 18 at around 2 a.m., surveillance video captured thieves entering a gated parking garage at an apartment complex and peering into people’s vehicles.
The two suspects then narrow in on Van Veenedaal’s car, a custom pink Tesla SUV.
“They left, apparently they stole a car, broke into the garage through the garage gate, smashed into the back of my Tesla with axes,” Van Veenedaal recalled. “They had masks on and took pretty much everything that I have.”
After thieves ransacked and emptied her vehicle, Van Veenedaal said everything she had worked for was now gone.
“I had all my laptops, mixers, in-ear monitors, there’s a mixing board, my computers, custom microphones,” the victim said. “Pretty much everything I’ve been saving up to build for the band for years.”
At the time, she was tired from a gig and said she did something out of the ordinary by leaving the musical equipment in her car.
She said the suspects also stole years of lyrics to original songs and had disabled any location-mapping services on her stolen electronics.
“I felt like I’ve lost everything and I don’t know how I’m going to piece it back together,” she said. “It’s like everything I have. Some of that stuff is not replaceable. I don’t even know where I could begin to get that stuff back.”
Just days before Christmas, Van Veenedaal is now scrambling to borrow equipment for upcoming performances from her musician friends and others in the industry.
“It’s probably a year’s worth of work,” she said of saving up to buy her equipment. “It’s so much [money]. I’ve been an absolute mess. It’s so much gone.”
A report has been filed with the Los Angeles Police Department. Authorities believe the suspects may have used a screwdriver to break into the apartment complex lobby before accessing the gated garage.
The victim is hoping some of her equipment turns up at local pawn shops. She’s been asking around using the equipments’ serial numbers but has not found anything so far.
As the suspects remain at large, no descriptions were released and the theft remains under investigation.
Those who want to help BoomBox Heroes recover from the theft can support them at their next show in Orange County on Jan. 6. Information can be found here.
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