80 looters break into Calif. Nordstrom
Police call crime ‘a planned event’
Drivers blared their horns Saturday evening as dozens of thieves darted from a Nordstrom department store near San Francisco and hopped into cars waiting for them outside. All but three of the 80 or so looters escaped, police said.
Two store employees were assaulted and one was pepper-sprayed by the intruders, according to officers in Walnut Creek, a city about 25 miles east of San Francisco. In a news release, police called the crime “clearly a planned event.”
“Walnut Creek Police investigators are in the process of reviewing surveillance footage to attempt to identify other suspects responsible for this brazen act,” the department said.
The spectacle Saturday night was one of several incidents of looting and shoplifting reported at high-end retail stores around the Bay Area over the weekend.
On Friday night, thieves broke into at least 10 stores, including a Louis Vuitton in San Francisco’s Union Square.
And, on Sunday night, officers in Hayward, about a 30-minute drive from San Francisco, were investigating after a group of smash-and-grab burglars destroyed glass cabinets and stole merchandise from a mall jewelry store.
“These crimes are happening around the Bay and across the country,” San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin tweeted Saturday. “I stand in partnership with our local, regional, state and federal partners as we work together to do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
Incidents of retail theft and organized crime have marred San Francisco’s image as of late. Pharmacies such as Walgreens and CVS have bemoaned blatant acts of shoplifting and shuttered several locations as a result. In September, city officials announced new tactics for fighting the crime wave, including adding more foot patrols and additional investigators to the police department’s organized retail crime unit.
This weekend’s crime spree began Friday night around 8 p.m. as San Francisco police responded to reports of looting and burglary around Union Square, a popular shopping district. Videos circulating on social media show looters ransacking a Louis Vuitton store after shattering the windows. One person can be seen climbing a shelving display to grab a handbag at the top, while another dragged a large piece of luggage outside. Yet another ran from the store with an armful of shoes and clothing.
ABC7 News reported that over $1 million in merchandise was stolen from Union Square stores.
One video shows police smashing the windows of a Mustang outside the store and forcibly removing a person from the vehicle. At a news conference Saturday, San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said the officers “were confronting an armed individual” inside the Mustang.
As of Saturday, police had arrested eight people and seized two vehicles thought to be connected to the crimes, including the Mustang, Scott said.
“I think the people that tried to do this and the people that did do this, it was concerted,” he said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that this was not unplanned.”