A husband-wife team of real estate photographers lost around $7,000 of equipment in a robbery that occurred while they were driving in San Francisco traffic.
Real estate photographers Ben Barghabany and Mahsa Tighi of Home Shots were driving east on the I-80 freeway around 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 5 when a suspect jumped out of a Honda Accord and smashed a window of the Prius in front of him, according to ABC7. A Tesla driver captured the incident on camera while other witnesses also reported seeing a man grab a bag and run off.
ROBBED WHILE DRIVING: Ben & Masha, real estate photographers noticed someone was following them near the on-ramp heading east on I-80
WATCH: their window gets smashed & suspects take $7K in photo equipment.
Tesla driver Alex caught it all camera. https://t.co/dfdfCRywJ7 pic.twitter.com/YyCz8Jg00B
— Dion Lim (@DionLimTV) February 6, 2021
The victims, a husband and wife team originally from Iran, told reporters on the scene that they were driving from a shoot at a nearby home near Dolores Park. Just prior to the robbery, Tighi had noticed the Accord following them. After the shock of the attack, they noticed that around $7,000 worth of camera equipment including a camera, a drone, a lens, a flash and video gear was stolen from the car.
Friends set up a GoFundMe page to help the couple recoup their losses and have raised just over $4,000 so far. While Barghabany and Tighi immediately filed a police report, local authorities are asking anyone with information about the incident to come forward.
“The brazen incident was all captured on video, thanks to a San Francisco man named Alex, who asked we don’t use his last name, who was behind the wheel of a Tesla Model 3 that recorded it all,” reads the GoFundMe page.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the last names and company of the photographers.