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Robbers followed a Southern California couple home for miles and ripped valuable heirlooms jewels out of a woman’s hands, in a terrifying attack partially caught on tape, officials said Wednesday.
Vijay Wali and his wife, Jyotika Wali, had just pulled into their Fullerton driveway on Friday night when two men attacked, one pouncing on each of them, the family said.
The couple had just visited a jewelry store 16 miles away in Cerritos to have various family jewels polished.
As the wife was about to go into the house and the husband was unloading the trunk, a man ran right at him, he said.
“So I started screaming, ‘Jyotika, Jyotika, Jyotika, lock the door, lock the door, lock the door,’ ” Vijay Wali told NBC News on Tuesday night.
The man punched Vijay Wali in the head and threw him on the ground, he said. When his wife returned to help, another attacker went right at her, according to the couple.
The couple’s daughter, Priyanka Wali, was inside the house when the robbery unfolded. She said the first attacker yelled “take it from her, take it from her” at the second assailant in Spanish.
“I was immediately attacked by another man and my purse was taken and I saw my husband had been assaulted and I screamed for help,” Jyotika Wali said. “My daughter was inside the house and called 911. But it was already over before you could understand (what had happened).”
The men got away in two cars, a gray or silver Nissan Altima and a black Honda Odyssey, driven by two other men, the daughter said. The face of at least one attacker was clearly captured by security cameras at the house while one of the two drivers was caught on camera at the jewelry store, according to the family.
Fullerton police Sgt. Ryan O’Neil acknowledged that detectives are working on a “home invasion robbery” but he declined to elaborate.
“At this time, it is still an active and ongoing investigation,” he said. “To protect the integrity of the investigation, we will not be releasing any information at this time.”
The robbers’ journey, to follow the Walis, was even more frightening because the couple didn’t come straight home from the jewelry store.
They “took some streets from the freeway which we normally don’t take” by making a quick stop at Jyotika Wali’s office and checking out some nearby Christmas lights before getting home, her husband said.
The family said they have seen video of the attackers keeping an eye on the couple at the Cerritos jewelry store and at Jyotika Wali’s office.
“They were highly organized and highly skilled at what they’re doing,” their daughter said. “This definitely didn’t seem like their first time.”
Among the items stolen was a dehjoor, a hexagonal shaped jewel worn off the ear of a Kashmiri Hindu bride.
“And so it has deep, deep symbolic significance in our culture and there were generations of jewelry stolen,” said Priyanka Wali, who is engaged to be married and had expected to receive some of those jewels in ceremonies.
The family was left traumatized by the Friday night attack but both victims still went to work that weekend. Jyotika Wali is a primary care physician who worked on Saturday while her husband is an emergency room doctor who did a shift on Christmas Eve.
“I’m scared to come back home,” she said, adding she now jumps in fear at the sounds of firecrackers she thinks might be gunshots.
She added: “This is no way to live. I mean it looks like there is no law. It’s very scary.”
Priyanka Wali, also a practicing physician, said she’s not sure if her family will ever be able to shake the fear brought on by Friday night’s attack.
“Emotional trauma and physical trauma are one and the same thing,” she said. “So yes, we may be able to walk and talk and have all of our limbs and vital organs functioning but emotionally the damage has been absolutely devastating.”
Hayley Walker and Janhvi Bhojwani contributed.
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