It was absolute mayhem as a gang of smash-and-grab robbers targeted the department store outside San Francisco.
The shoplifting that's been going on in San Francisco is now expanding outside the immediate Bay Area, including at a nearby Nordstrom, where recently at least 80 suspects ransacked the shop in a matter of seconds.
It was absolute mayhem as a gang of smash-and-grab robbers targeted the department store outside San Francisco. The military-like, coordinated operation involved at least 80 thieves and 10 different vehicles.
The terror began at 9 p.m. when they strategically barricaded their cars in front of the store, blocking anyone from parking. Then they stormed in armed with crowbars, smashed display cases and loaded up with high-end merchandise. They were gone in less than one minute.
Officers with guns drawn caught up to one car filled with suspected looters. Only three suspects have so far been arrested in connection with the incident.
The Nordstrom was just one target of several flash mob sprees over the weekend in the Bay Area. Dozens of looters swarmed a jewelry store in Hayward.
And there was another coordinated hit at luxury store Louis Vuitton. A mob escaped with armfuls of clothing.
Cops responded and some gave chase, catching up to a fleeing driver. Police smashed the car windows with batons and pulled a suspect out of the vehicle to make an arrest.
“They appear to be organized, groups of people, mob-like, rushing into and breaching entryways — something very, very challenging to try to push back on,” former prosecutor Marisa Rodriguez told Inside Edition.
Rodriguez now heads an alliance of business owners at San Francisco's famed Union Square.
“We need our police department, our city officials to lean in and recognize that retail theft is not a victimless crime. This impacts all of us,” Rodriguez said.
Across the United States, other Louis Vuitton stores were also targeted. Outside Chicago, 14 looters hit all at once, leaving the store shelves largely bare.
In New York’s trendy SoHo, extra security guards lined the streets in hopes of preventing similar smash-and-grab robberies.
