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A group of brutal thieves hit a San Diego, California, Nordstrom and left with $140,000 worth of merchandise and designer handbags.
Police said the incident occurred on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at Westfield UTC in University City, a commercial district near the University of California San Diego.
The thieves struck just after 7 p.m., according to a San Diego Police Department representative.
In less than 60 seconds, the group, consisting of seven to nine thieves, manage to grab dozens of bags and leave the store completely without being stopped.
Within seconds of getting into the frame of the camera, the group went to work and grabbed bags from the display cases in the store.
The group members carried cutters so they could remove tags that would alert security if they left
Just as quickly as they entered the frame, the group of thieves were able to quickly exit with a total of 70 bags
This is the Nordstrom where seven to nine thieves got away with $140,000 worth of merchandise
A total of 70 bags were stolen in the robbery, police said afterwards.
The reported value of the designer purses is $140,000. However, the exact brand of the stolen wallets is unknown.
It’s unclear if the group was armed with weapons, but they did have cutters to quickly remove the tags from the purses.
Surveillance video from the store shows the group simply walking away after jacking up the bags.
San Diego Police Department officials said: KSWB that they believe the group of thieves is part of a Los Angeles robbery gang.
The group has yet to be identified, but appears to include both black and white individuals, as well as men and women.
No arrests have been made at this time.
DailyMail.com contacted the Los Angeles Police Department, the San Diego Police Department and Nordstrom officials, but received no response at the time of publication.
Nordstrom isn’t the only high-end story at Westfield UTC, though.
San Diego’s popular shopping center has stores such as Chanel, Hermes, Jo Malone, Kate Spade, Kendra Scott, Le Labo, Louis Vuitton, and more.
The shopping destination is also home to several luxury jewelers, another type of store known for being the target of thieves looking to make a quick buck.
The theft has scared some customers so much because of the security of the mall and the area around it.
“I’ve always felt safe here,” said one shopper who spoke to FOX5 in San Diego. “So it’s a little worrisome.”
The Westfield UTC is an upscale shopping plaza just north of downtown San Diego
The open-air mall is known for its range of designer and affordable brands, as well as for its public art exhibitions
In addition to being home to stores such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes, Kate Spade and more, Westfield UTC has high-end restaurants and eateries
The incident at the San Diego mall happened less than 48 hours after thieves broke into a Chanel store in Los Angeles and got away with an unknown number of products.
It’s unclear if the two thefts are related, but San Diego police said they believe so
At the time, at least two people used a stolen van to drive through the front of the Beverly Grove site, the second incident of its kind in three months.
The smash-and-grab took place just after 2:30 a.m. on October 25.
Police said last week that the suspects drove the van into the windshield of the Chanel store in an attempt to steal the merchandise inside.
Police responded early in the morning of Oct. 25 at the Chanel store in Beverly Grove to reports of a break-in
An armed guard was inside at the time and was able to fend off the suspects after smashing the vehicle through the window
Chanel bags were strewn on the sidewalk after the break-in. Some purses sold by the designer brand cost upwards of $4,000
The window was barred at the time of the incident with a grid, video and photos of the scene showing.
In addition, police told DailyMail.com that the van used by the unidentified suspects had recently been stolen.
Video from local newscasts showed a messy scene with glass shattered both on the sidewalk outside the venue and on the floor of the store.
In one clip, handbags appeared scattered on the floor.
According to Chanel’s website, purses sold by the company can range in price from $200 to over $4,000.
That investigation is ongoing.
Last Tuesday’s robbery in Los Angeles was not the first for the store, however.
Thieves struck in July exactly the same store use a white van to ram into the entrance and grab merchandise.
In the July 20 break-in, thousands of dollars worth of Chanel items were stolen before the group fled in two vehicles.
The four suspects in that incident were later arrested for allegedly breaking into a Neiman Marcus store Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach just hours after the Chanel hit.