A swarm of teenagers stole $12,000 worth of goods from a Nike store in Los Angeles in a ‘flash rob mob’ that was captured on video.
Shortly before 6 p.m., more than a dozen thieves flooded the Nike Community Store on South Alameda Street.
Footage shows them filling garbage bags with boxes of sneakers and rushing through the store with their arms full of clothes, as shoppers look on hopelessly.
Several teenagers hide their faces behind black masks. One is wearing a pair of yellow gloves.
The LAPD has identified 17 suspects. One was identified by their “distinctive” sweatshirt with a logo of a bonsai tree and the words “Ritual of the Spirit.”
A swarm of at least seventeen teenagers stole approximately $12,000 worth of merchandise from the Nike Community Store on South Alameda Street in Los Angeles.
The teens are seen on video filling trash bags with boxes of sneakers and carrying piles of clothing
The teenagers flooded the store shortly before 6pm on Sunday and fled in five cars
In a police press release, the suspects are described as “four women and thirteen men, black, ranging in age from 15 to 20 years old.”
The teens fled in five vehicles, including a brown Infiniti four-door, a gray KIA SUV, a white Honda, a KIA four-door and a black Audi.
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, Los Angeles County currently has the highest rate of commercial robberies in the state.
In 2022, the state saw a 28.7 percent jump from the low numbers of pandemic years.
While shoplifting rates remain below pre-pandemic levels, this does not take into account other forms of shoplifting, such as business burglaries.
After an increase of 5.8 percent last year, the percentage for this type of theft is 15.7 percent higher than in 2019.
This figure includes the cost of lost products, higher insurance costs, higher prices of goods and unrealized wages.
Law enforcement has begun a statewide crackdown on organized retail theft, which is expected to cost the state more than $19 billion this year.
A Los Angeles Police Department news release describes the suspects as “four females and 13 males, black, ranging in age from 15 to 20 years old.”
Several teens hid their faces behind black masks as they rushed through the store, grabbing as much merchandise as they could carry.
This Nike store is the second in Los Angeles to be targeted by a ‘flash mob’ since August, when thieves looted $30,000 worth of merchandise from another location
Just this week, the California Highway Patrol’s Organized Retail Theft Task Force announced the results of a large-scale crackdown in several counties.
The sting resulted in 137 arrests, as well as the recovery of three stolen vehicles and more than $60,000 in merchandise.
Governor Gavin Newsom declared in August that the state would triple CHP resources in the Los Angeles area to combat retail crime.
“The CHP is the proven leader in tackling organized retail theft and through this expanded partnership, the agency will further help the city carry out its work to keep Angelenos and their businesses safe,” Newsom said in a news release.
Since 2019, the ORCTF has returned $30.7 million in stolen goods to retailers across the state.
Since its inception, the organization has conducted more than 1,850 retail crime investigations and arrested more than 1,250 people.
Scenes from Sunday’s “flash mob” bear a striking resemblance to the attack on a Nike store in East Los Angeles in August.
Thieves loaded black garbage bags with $30,000 worth of stolen goods. Six people were arrested.
Also that month, dozens of thieves raided a Saint Laurent store in Glendale, taking an estimated $300,000 worth of merchandise.
At the time, Glendale Police Sgt. Victor Jackson described the robbery as a “flash mob.”
“In these circumstances, they’re kind of overwhelming the store staff. They all come in at the same time,” he explained.
Brianna Jimenez, 21, and Ivan Ramirez, 23, were two of 19 suspects arrested in connection with a string of robberies in Southern California.