Los Angeles flash mob vandalizes 7-Eleven
Flash mob vandalizes Los Angeles 7-Eleven following a street takeover
The Los Angeles Police Department is warning people in the city not to create a new looting trend where suspects form a "flash mob" and ransack a store.
"We really want to prevent this from becoming a new trend where they think they can show up and take over a street or a freeway or any part of the city that they're just going to be able to do what they want," LAPD Det. Ryan Moreno said last week in comments to the press.
His comments came in response to a looting incident at a 7-Eleven last Monday where about 100 people stormed the convenience store. The suspects quickly dispersed across the store, taking anything from cigarettes and lottery tickets to snacks.
"There was one employee that was working at the time, and they feared for their life, and basically just kind of did what they could and retreated back away from everybody," Moreno said.
LOS ANGELES FLASH MOB LOOTS, VANDALIZES 7-ELEVEN FOLLOWING STREET TAKEOVER, POLICE SAY
A large crowd is seen looting a 7-Eleven store in Los Angeles following a street takeover, police said. (LAPD )
The LA detective said the suspects will be "held accountable for this action." He added that "we're here to basically say" this type of crime will not become a new trend in the city.
In the 7-Eleven case last week, police said people driving cars flooded an intersection near the convenience store, and blocked every direction on the streets with their cars to create "a ‘pit’ in the middle of the intersection." They proceeded to do donuts on the road, before ransacking the convenience store.
"The term 'flash mob' was first used to describe a large public gathering at which people perform an unusual or seemingly random act and then disperse, typically organized by means of the internet or social media," the LAPD said in a release on last Monday’s incident at 7-Eleven.
"In the latest cases, however, 'flash mobs' have turned from fun spontaneous events to opportunistic criminal occurrences," the department said.
A large crowd is seen looting a 7-Eleven store in Los Angeles following a street takeover, police said. (Los Angeles Police Department)
The warning comes after smash-and-grab looters targeted cities in California, most notably Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.
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Suspects in those cases were often armed with weapons such as baseball bats or hammers and would use them to break display cases and windows in order to steal merchandise. The crimes were carried out by multiple suspects, and sometimes by large groups.
Smash and grab robbery at a Beverly Hills, California, jewelry store. (FOX LA )
The trend overwhelmingly plagued areas of the state over last year’s holiday shopping season. In one of the most high-profile cases last year, roughly 80 suspects departed from about 25 cars outside a Nordstrom location in Walnut Creek, which is about 25 miles from San Francisco, and made off with more than $100,000 in stolen merchandise. Employees of the Nordstrom were left injured by the incident, including by pepper spray, and assaulted with a knife.
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Police are asking the public to come forward with any information on the suspects in the flash mob case last week.
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