The latest target in a series of sudden looting across the state of California was a luxury mall in Los Angeles, with over a dozen suspects stealing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, according to ABC News.
On Monday night, at approximately 10:40 PM, about 20 thieves broke into the Nordstrom at The Grove, a high-end retail and entertainment complex. Among the weapons used to smash the glass windows were sledgehammers and e-bikes. After the criminals fled, they had stolen about $5,000 worth of property and caused over $15,000 worth of damage.
Police responded just in time to pursue one SUV that was spotted leaving the scene, and ultimately managed to arrest three suspects, including one minor. The SUV was found to contain multiple products from the ransacked Nordstrom, as well as a CVS that had been burglarized earlier that same day.
The incident in Los Angeles marks the second time that a Nordstrom in California was ransacked in just as many days; on Saturday, a Nordstrom in Walnut Creek, just 20 miles outside of San Francisco, was assaulted by a mob of over 80 looters who suddenly pulled up in front of the store in dozens of cars, blocking the street so that they could carry out their attack. Other stores in the Bay Area and across the state have been targeted, resulting in the theft of clothing, jewelry, and other valuable merchandise.
Michel Moore, Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), said in a statement that the department would increase its visible patrols around such luxurious stores as Nordstrom, and others, in the coming days ahead of Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
Moore said that such acts of mass looting “have a profoundly greater impact on the sense of safety and security than simply the dollar loss of the merchandise.”
In the Bay Area, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, who has been known for easing criminal penalties in his jurisdiction, said that his office would be working with California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D-Calif.) to “develop effective solutions to breaking up the fencing networks that are driving this kind of crime.”
Such crime waves have been on the rise in California ever since the state passed a controversial law making it no longer a crime to shoplift, as long as the total dollar amount of stolen merchandise comes out to less than $1,000. This has led to many prominent chains, including pharmaceutical chain Walgreens, announcing the closure of multiple stores in the crime-ridden Bay Area.