An ex-police commissioner in Philadelphia predicted that mass robbery teams would spread across the country Friday, after their recent success in California attacks on retailers. Black Friday proved that his prediction was correct.
Charles Ramsey, the ex-Philadelphia commissioner, said there’s “no question”The trend will continue elsewhere.
“This is something now that I really unfortunately think is going to spread,”Ramsey spoke with CNN on Thursday. “Right now it’s in California, but it will spread, there’s no question about it.”
UPDATE:On Black Friday, 5:21 pm, a rising tide of flash mob robbers attacked the Bottega Veneta shop in Beverly Grove’s shopping district. LAPD reports that one of the robbers pepper-sprayed his victim while his accomplices grabbed merchandise.
At 7:55 pm, Elsewhere, a Lakewood Home Depot was attacked. Eight people were accused of stealing sledgehammers and wrenches, as well as various hammers. They fled in 10 getaway vehicles.
Minnesota was the scene of an armed robbery at Best Buy in Minneapolis-Saint Paul. The robbers entered the Burnsville, Minnesota store shortly before 8 PM and stole electronics gear.
On Black Friday, three shops in Chicago were robbed in less than an hour.
California’s Bay Area and Los Angeles have been particularly hard hit by the flash mob attacks in the last week. On Friday, six smash-and-grab robberies occurred in Fairfax District and Beverly Grove.
Last Wednesday, another robbery happened at a Los Angeles-area Nordstrom. The store at the Westfield Topanga & The Village shopping center in Canoga Park was hit at about 7 p.m.
According to ABC7 and KCAL9 reports, a group of five men entered the store, one in an orange wig. They stole seven to eight purses and then fled the scene. They took $20,000 in merchandise.
An earlier attack on Walnut Creek by a crowd of around 80 people was carried out in San Francisco.
Newsweek reported that a Burberry store and Yves Saint Laurent outlet was also robbed on Friday.