According to local media reports on November 22, on Friday and Saturday local time, there were two large-scale smashing and robbery incidents targeting high-end retail stores in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the police are tracking down dozens of suspects involved.
Nordstrom in Walnut Creek
On Saturday night, Nordstrom, an upscale department store in Walnut Creek, about 32 kilometers northeast of San Francisco, suffered a massive robbery. According to eyewitness accounts, there were about 80 robbers, some wearing ski masks and wielding crowbars, who attacked the clerks and snatched the goods, and then quickly escaped in the cars waiting outside. Police said two employees at the mall were attacked and another was hit with pepper spray, which was apparently a "planned incident".
Video from the scene showed a group of masked men rushing out of the store with bags and jumping into a car to flee the scene
Witnesses Hernandez said he saw the robbers storm the store. She recounted on Twitter: "About 25 cars suddenly blocked the street, and then a group of people rushed into Nordstrom, stole the goods, then got in the car and drove away quickly. "Some of the footage footage showed a group of masked men rushing out of the store with bags and boxes, jumping into cars and fleeing the scene.
Brett Barrett, the manager of a nearby restaurant, said: "We probably saw 50 to 80 people wearing ski masks, crowbars and a bunch of weapons robbing Nordstrom. I thought they were going to start smashing cars when they came out and had to lock all the doors of the restaurant. ”
Walnut Creek Police said in a statement last Sunday that the mass theft shocked everyone, with 3 people arrested so far and guns found from one of the arrested suspects. The statement said most of the people involved had escaped and that police were reviewing surveillance video to identify other suspects.
Police said that in recent times, high-end department stores in many cities in the San Francisco Bay Area have been the target of large-scale thefts.
On November 15, nine men armed with hammers broke into an iceberg diamond jewelry store at Concord's Sun Valley Shopping Center, smashed the glass of the display case, and looted the jewelry.
Louis Vuitton in San Francisco's Union Square was looted
The day before the Nordstrom theft, from 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. local time on November 19, a group of thieves broke into Louis Vuitton in San Francisco's Union Square, Burberry and Bloomingdale at Westfield Mall, Yves Saint Laurent on Gilly Street and other luxury stores, smashed glass and looted the goods in the store, then jumped on the waiting car and fled.
From 8:00 p.m. to 12:00 p.m. local time on the 19th, a number of luxury stores in San Francisco were looted
San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said at a news conference last Saturday: "We will take the necessary steps to stop this madness." He said police also prevented the theft in a number of stores such as Fendi and Hermès that day. Scott said eight people involved in the case have been arrested and more are expected as police are viewing "hours of footage" and some of the suspects are "familiar to us."
Red Star News reporter Xu Huan
Edited by Pan Li
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