SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Surveillance video shows a hooded man wielding a sledgehammer and breaking into the door of a restaurant in Tierrasanta.

“The whole window was broken. There was glass everywhere,” Elizabeth Sifuentes said.

That was the scene that greeted him Monday at his family’s restaurant, Tierrasanta Mexican restaurant.

“I am devastated and heartbroken,” Sifuentes said.

The moments of the theft were captured on security cameras.

Just before 4 a.m., a hooded man with a sledgehammer is seen aiming for the front door, banging on it for about 20 seconds and finishing the job with a kick.

After a few minutes, he pushes the window open and gets in.

As we wander through the restaurant, a flashlight illuminates the darkness inside.

The intruder then went into the back room and smashed open most of the employees’ lockers, leaving a messy mess behind.

A nearby office was searched.

Shortly afterwards, a small safe is seen being thrown outside the front door by the thief, who jumps out of the restaurant and into a waiting car with blacked-out license plates.

In total, approximately $500 in cash was taken, plus $1,200 in damage.

“When you’re trying to survive and stay in the community, an $800 window hits hard,” Sifuentes said.

This pain is something Sifuentes, whose family opened the restaurant nearly 25 years ago, has felt before.

“Feeling that again makes your heart sink,” Sifuentes said.

Last April, a video was captured of a man using a crowbar to break the front window before getting inside. As the alarm went off, the man hurriedly left with only an empty safe. He wasn’t caught.

It is unclear whether this thief is the same as the last thief.

Despite the losses, Sifuentes says his family was determined not to allow the break-ins or break them.

“You celebrate your birthday, your graduation. It’s such an environment of love… We want to hold on for the community,” Sifuentes said.

ABC 10News has reached out to San Diego Police to see if the two incidents are related and is waiting to hear back.