San Francisco thieves break into Shelby Steele's car as he shoots documentary, steal thousands in camera gear

Author Shelby Steele and his filmmaker son Eli had their rental car broken into in broad daylight while shooting a new documentary in San Francisco on Wednesday. During the incident, which was caught on camera, thieves made off with thousands of dollars in film equipment before speeding away.

The Steeles' attempts to get San Francisco Police to act yielded nothing, with an officer informing them that the department had been "defanged" to such an extent that it could not keep up with the city's rampant crime. 

"You hear about how bad San Francisco is," Eli wrote on Twitter, explaining that the vehicle had been left unattended for ten minutes while he filmed a scene for the film sequel to his father's bestseller, "White Guilt." 

Steele, a black conservative author, columnist, documentary filmmaker, and Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, argued in the book that "the age of white supremacy has given way to an age of white guilt, and neither has been good for African Americans."

Eli had originally estimated the value of the stolen equipment to be $15,000, but further investigation revealed the losses were at least $25,000, plus rental car damage.

He lamented the fact that the incident had taken place not in the seedy underbelly of the Tenderloin neighborhood, but on top of Lombard Street, part of one of the richest neighborhoods in the country.

"I've worked dangerous neighborhoods for years and nothing like this," he added.

Eli explained that upon arriving at the police station, he and his father found themselves surrounded by others who had had their vehicles broken into. While they waited, one of their friends had a gun pulled on him after confronting would-be robbers peering into cars outside.

He went on to note that when they eventually got to speak with an officer, "she expressed sympathy and said nothing will likely happen," and told him that, "The police have been defanged."

According to Eli, a good samaritan told him that the license plate on the thieves' vehicle was stolen off a rental car, with a Hertz attendant at the airport adding that they see around 30 vehicles broken into every day.

A GoFundMe account has been set up to recoup some of the Steeles' losses, which included numerous cameras, lenses, microphones, and memory cards.