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Criminals Targeting Granada Hills Businesses?

GRANADA HILLS (CBSLA.com) — Are Granada Hills businesses being targeted by criminals?

Arik Cohen, business owner of Moto Styles & Hobbies Shop, says he has seen a rise in crime on Chatsworth Street -- including his business.

A security camera captured a man walking up to Cohen's business and then kicking and smashing the glass at the storefront.

"I'm very angry," says Cohen.

That's because moments earlier another camera captured the same heavy set man walking up to the rear door.

"The guy broke literally the entire frame trying to get in," says Cohen. "You can see chisel marks everywhere and literally the stucco fell off."

The man didn't get inside but Cohen says the same person was in his store on Monday -- seen in a video with a woman.

Cohen says the couple tried to sell him some radio-controlled helicopters and drones but he turned them down.

"He was cursing me. Giving all kind of racial problems. He was trying to start a violent confrontation," says Cohen.

Security video shows the woman pushing the man away from the front door.

Cohen says as the couple walk away the man yelled racial slurs at him.

He believes they only went into his shop to case it.

"He was looking around here to see if there was any safe or any register they can grab," says Cohen.

The police report called it a case of vandalism, but Cohen believes the man wanted to steal from him.

He says it's the latest in a string of problems he's had. He says the rise in crime he has seen on Chatsworth Street is why he believes some of his neighbors have boarded up their businesses.

"People are moving out and they're not coming back," says Cohen. "It's a big deal."

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