The crooks ambushed a Brink's and made off with 73 bags stuffed with rare, one-of-a-kind pieces, including diamonds, emeralds and rubies, according to officials and reports.

Groups were seen handing out kits with full face-shields and other gear from pickup trucks Monday.

"There were so many people from the outside, I was so scared, I was worried they would steal everything and destroy everything,'' owner Kurt Kawai Chin told The Post on Tuesday.

Elizabeth Mendoza owns La Cieba in Compton, and helped her staff pour milk over the eyes of LA officers who had been caught up in a cloud of tear gas.