WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (AP) — About 80 people, some wearing ski masks and wielding crow bars, ransacked a high-end department store in the San Francisco Bay Area, stealing merchandise before fleeing in cars waiting outside, police and witnesses said.
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Three people were arrested while the majority got away after the large-scale theft Saturday night shocked shoppers at the Nordstrom in Walnut Creek, police said.
NBC Bay Area reporter Jodi Hernandez tweeted that she saw the thieves rush into the store in the downtown shopping district in the city some 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.
“About 25 cars just blocked the street and rushed into the Walnut Creek Nordstrom making off with goods before getting in cars and speeding away,” Hernandez said on Twitter.
YET ANOTHER #LouisVuitton looting video from this evening #SanFrancisco pic.twitter.com/q2aKhNDbtd
— Richie Greenberg (@richieSF2016) November 20, 2021
Video from the scene shows masked people streaming out of the store, carrying bags and boxes, jumping into the cars and speeding away.
Brett Barrette, the manager of a nearby PF Chang’s restaurant, began locking doors at his establishment while watching the chaos unfold.
“We probably saw 50 to 80 people in ski masks, crowbars, a bunch of weapons,” Barrette told ABC 7 News.
The Walnut Creek Police Department said a firearm was recovered from one of the three arrested suspects, ABC 7 reported.
The incident was first reported around 8:45 p.m. while the store was still open. Police officials couldn’t immediately be reached Sunday morning, but a dispatcher said the department was preparing a news release.
No injuries were reported. Nobody answered the phone at the Nordstrom Sunday morning.
The incident came a day after several high-end stores in San Francisco’s Union Square were broken into by a large group of people who smashed windows, stole merchandise, and then ran to waiting cars, police said.
Damn cops were not playing . Louis Vuitton in San Francisco union square pic.twitter.com/KY32rxjQ9c
— Yealenne (@Yealenne) November 20, 2021
Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Yves Saint Laurent, Burberry, and Dolce & Gabbana were all targeted Friday night, Fox 2 News reported.
San Francisco Police Officer Robert Rueca said in a statement posted on social media that officers responded to reports of possible looting and vandalism at Union Square stores Friday night and arrested several people.
Stores in Union Square, a posh shopping district popular with tourists, have been targeted for years by well-organized thieves who at times have rammed vehicles into storefronts to break glass doors and windows and enter the buildings during non-business hours.
In July, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that allows prosecutors to charge those who work with others to steal merchandise.
That’s what happens when you defund the police and tie their hands.
The USA must quickly return to law and order before it’s too late and that will only happen when Republicans are in power at the local, state and federal level.
If we want a USA with riots, looting and savagery that will eventually lead to many lives lost then keep electing Dumocrats !!!
yeah democrats. Great job! Nordstrom will be next to close down their stores, especially in that rat hole California
Horrible, how the police targeted poor people, broke their car windows like maniacs, We need an urgent full blown investigation of the police officers action. We will march arm in arm singing ‘No Justice No Peace. This is the new America. Keep one foot ready to run to Israel when this becomes the norm
Hope there are 10 tzadikim in S.F.
Liberalism at its best.
Maybe if enough fancy liberal stores get vandalized especially in upper west side the old democRATs will wake up and stop electing the Nadlers and Schumer’s.
This coming soon to a democratic party run city near you.
more white supremacists.
weird that so many people can organize a stupid crime like that. How much money did they think they would each get?
It looks connected to the store in Stamford Hill which has been burglarized twice