Flash Mob Looting and Robbery in Wake of Rittenhouse Verdict

[Brian4Liberty]

Political verdicts and protests are often cover for criminal activity. Potential protests and unrest in the wake of the Rittenhouse verdict made this past weekend the perfect opportunity for looting and robbery.

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. — About 80 people, some wearing ski masks and wielding crowbars, ransacked a high-end department store in the San Francisco Bay Area, assaulting employees and stealing merchandise before fleeing in cars waiting outside, police and witnesses said.

Three people were arrested while the majority got away after the large-scale theft Saturday night shocked shoppers at the Nordstrom at the Broadway Plaza outdoor mall in Walnut Creek, police said in a statement Sunday.

Two employees were assaulted and one was hit with pepper spray during what police called “clearly a planned event.”

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 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.
...
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.

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.
...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...eek/ar-AAQYiZR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szIJvocTK3o

[Anti Globalist]

Who didn't see this coming after the verdict?

[TheTexan]

Couldn't have happened to a better city.

[Brian4Liberty]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea7vDsY-h7E

[Brian4Liberty]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLzretVJIY8

[Brian4Liberty]

Police are looking for dozens of suspects after a series of brazen thefts Friday and Saturday in the Bay Area that targeted high-end retailers in large-scale smash-and-grab robberies.
...
Scott said that during a four-hour window starting at 8 p.m. Friday night, thieves burglarized Louis Vuitton on Union Square, Burberry and Bloomingdale's in the Westfield Mall, Yves Saint Laurent on Geary Street, Walgreens on Market Street and multiple cannabis dispensaries across the city. Police were able to prevent thefts at other locations, Scott said, including at Fendi and Hermès stores.

https://news.yahoo.com/bay-area-hit-...202732656.html

[acptulsa]

Oh, sure. Smash and grab the mom and pop in a neighborhood that desperately needs it, nothing. Burberry, Bloomington's and Louis Vuitton? Bring in the detectives and put SWAT on standby.

[enhanced_deficit]

Srange times:

Nordstrom raided by 80 thieves in California amid wave of smash-and-grabs across states

Incident comes after similar raids in San Francisco and Chicago this week

Oliver Oconnell New York
,Independent Staff 10 hours ago


Related Video: Thieves steal $100,000 worth of items from Louis Vuitton store near Chicago

A Nordstrom department store in Walnut Creek, California was the target of looters on Saturday night amid a wave of smash-and-grab raids across the US.
Eyewitnesses claim as many as 80 people in ski masks rushed into the store at approximately 8.45pm, with 25 cars blocking the street outside.
Nordstrom is the largest store in Walnut Creek’s downtown outdoor shopping district and the area was busy with shoppers, and diners at nearby restaurants.
Videos taken by bystanders show some of the thieves rushing from the store with merchandise and then driving off in the waiting vehicles.
There were reports of department store workers being punched and kicked and of one being pepper-sprayed. Three people were treated for injuries.
Brett Barrett, manager of the nearby PF Chang’s restaurant told ABC 7 that stunned customers watched the raid unfold.
“We probably saw 50 to 80 people in ski masks crowbars a bunch of weapons. They were looting the Nordstrom’s right here. And I thought they were going to start beating cars. I had to start locking doors,” he said.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b1961680.html

[Brian4Liberty]

Cross posting:

"No Justice, No Peace Imma snag me a sweet designer handbag!"

https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status...65045145833481

[Brian4Liberty]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ygKyg82RTQ

[Brian4Liberty]

Mall in Hayward Hit in Sunday Night Smash-and-Grab

Smash-and-grab thieves have struck again Sunday evening, this time at the Southland Mall in Hayward.
...
https://news.yahoo.com/mall-hayward-...030400250.html

[Pauls' Revere]

Couldn't have happened to a better city.

[CaptUSA]

Couldn't have happened to a better city.

Didn't SF already legalize shoplifting?? I guess it's the "smash" part of smash and grab that made this news?

[Brian4Liberty]

Hayward and San Jose...

It was the third day in a row that large mobs of robbers went after retailers in the region.

Hayward police told CBS San Francisco they responded around 5:30 p.m. Sunday to multiple calls from stores in Southland Mall.

Witnesses said a large mob caused a huge disturbance inside the mall, with some briefly taking over a jewelry store.

Witnesses described some 40 to 50 looters wielding hammers and other tools looting Sam's Jewelers, breaking glass cases and quickly fleeing. The Macy's store was also ransacked.

In video taken during the robbery, workers can be heard inside Sam's Jewelers screaming in fear.
...
Meanwhile in San Jose Sunday evening, police said a group of suspects entered the Lululemon store in Santana Row at about 6:30 and took merchandise. They fled prior to police arriving.
...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...day/ar-AAQZmVR

[Brian4Liberty]

Marijuana dispensaries were a popular target this weekend...

OAKLAND (CBS SF) — A band of fleeing smash and grab robbers riddled an Oakland police vehicle with bullets early Monday morning in one of a series of weekend break-ins targeting legal marijuana dispensaries.
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Oakland Police PIO Officer Kim Armstead said the shooting incident took place around 3 a.m. at a dispensary in the 8100 block of MacArthur Blvd.
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At around 2 a.m., Oakland police officers responded to 2435 Telegraph Ave to investigate a looting incident that took place at the EC Cannabis dispensary. No other details have been released.

On Saturday night, there was an exchange of gunfire at an online marijuana dispensary and distribution center in the 300 block of Pendleton Way.
...
Investigators said the looters grabbed a large amount of marijuana and started to flee. They were confronted by two armed security guards outside and a gun battle ensued.
...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...ies/ar-AAQZYYM

[Brian4Liberty]

Oh, sure. Smash and grab the mom and pop in a neighborhood that desperately needs it, nothing. Burberry, Bloomington's and Louis Vuitton? Bring in the detectives and put SWAT on standby.

Mom and pop stores don't make it onto the internet. But some smaller jewelry stores and pharmacies have been hit, along with the bigger names.

And nobody cares anymore when a Walgreens, Rite Aid or Target gets hit. They just shut down after repeated looting.

[shakey1]

What?... no burnings???

[phill4paul]

One of these days maybe we'll go back to the old days where if you felt your life was more important than the theft or destruction of another's property you refrained from doing it. Life, liberty, property. This is what you respect as your own and others rights. Otherwise you can lose one or all of them for violating another's.

[Invisible Man]

I think in order to have really energetic riots, you need to have names and faces of the ostensibly innocent victims to rally around.

In this case, because the alleged "victims" were white men and for multiple reasons not the sorts anyone would rally around, and because the media worked so hard to avoid identifying the victims, this catalyst was not there this time.

[TheTexan]

One of these days maybe we'll go back to the old days where if you felt your life was more important than the theft or destruction of another's property you refrained from doing it. Life, liberty, property. This is what you respect as your own and others rights. Otherwise you can lose one or all of them for violating another's.

Yup.

A TV isn't worth much, but neither is the life of whoever is stealing it.

[Occam's Banana]

Didn't SF already legalize shoplifting?? I guess it's the "smash" part of smash and grab that made this news?

Pretty much. To the extent they are not prosecuting shoplifting, they have effectively legalized it.

And burglaries and home invasions may be next.

(I'd have thought you were crazy - or least excessively hyperbolic - if you had said such a thing even just a few years ago. But now ...)

https://twitter.com/sfchronicle/stat...38956204924928

https://twitter.com/ThaddeusRussell/...78159412326413

... "should they tolerate burglaries as a part of city living, and focus on barricading homes" ...

"There is a point in the history of society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly." -- Friedrich Nietzsche (Beyond Good and Evil, Section V Aphorism 201)

[Anti Federalist]

Didn't SF already legalize shoplifting?? I guess it's the "smash" part of smash and grab that made this news?

As far as I know any theft under $1000 is treated as a non arrestable misdemeanor.

[Occam's Banana]

Fixed it for them: "Experts we spoke to expressed the importance of media literacy Newspeak [...]"

https://twitter.com/abc7newsbayarea/...76720701644805

And WTF is this $#@! - erm, excuse me, I mean "expert" - talking about?



"Looting" is a term used for what looters do, regardless of what color they happen to be - white, black, or green-with-purple-polka-dots. I have never encountered an instance of the term "looting" being withheld from application to "other people" because of their color when they engage in "do[ing] the exact same thing". (And notice how this "expert" tries to cover his ass with the phrase "people of color or urban dwellers" [emphasis added] - as if there is any "looting" going on in cow pastures out in the sticks. I mean, where the hell else is looting going to happen, if not in an "urban" setting?)

But bigots like this "expert", who analyze everything through the lens of race, try to project their own bigotries onto everyone else while pretending that this somehow makes them virtuous. They will imply that you are a racist (or they'll outright call you one) if you use a term like "looting" - but then they'll turn right around and give a pass to people like the author of this book:

[CaptUSA]

"Looting" is a term used for what looters do, regardless of what color they happen to be - white, black, or green-with-purple-polka-dots. I have never encountered an instance of the term "looting" being withheld from application to "other people" when they engage in "do[ing] the exact same thing." (And notice how this "expert" tries to cover his ass with the phrase "people of color or urban dwellers" [emphasis added] - as if there is any "looting" going on in cow pastures out in the sticks.)

Devil's advocate here... What do we call it when politically-connected individuals smash the windows of the economy and grab the wealth of the populace with the full authorization of the law? Bastiat called the practice, "legal plunder". And yet, somehow these people escape the "looter" tag - even though, they make off with way more loot.

[Occam's Banana]

Devil's advocate here... What do we call it when politically-connected individuals smash the windows of the economy and grab the wealth of the populace with the full authorization of the law? Bastiat called the practice, "legal plunder". And yet, somehow these people escape the "looter" tag - even though, they make off with way more loot.

You could easily apply the term "looter" to them, as well. One could quibble that literal "looting" involves the direct, "in person" physical seizure of goods from a storefront or warehouse or whatnot - but even then, the term could still be figuratively applied to what you are describing. But the color of the looters would still be irrelevant to the proper application of the term. Under the figurative case, for example, Dubya and his cronies were no less "looters" than Obama and his crew were.

[Occam's Banana]

https://twitter.com/sfchronicle/stat...38956204924928

https://twitter.com/ThaddeusRussell/...78159412326413

Lots of red pills being dispensed ...

Twitter thread by Michelle Tandler (@michelletandler): https://twitter.com/michelletandler/...68362258628608
Thread compiled @ threadreaderapp.com: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...258628608.html

---

One of my best friends in SF was burglarized and robbed last week while sleeping.

Two days later she saw three men peering into her backyard. She called SFPD sobbing. They did not come.

"I've never lived someplace where the government just doesn't care about you" she said.

She and her husband are going to turn their home into a security fortress - motion detectors, lights, cameras.

"I was told that next time I have to say they have a weapon" she said.

"Be careful," I warned. That could get you in trouble.

I explained to her that we have laws which could give someone the right to sue her for calling the cops if they aren't committing a crime.

So what should she do if she sees people peering into her yard with cameras?

I have no idea.

ARTICLE: San Francisco's 'Caren Act' makes placing racist 911 calls a hate crime

She asked, "Does the government want me to be here? If I pay taxes, shouldn't they protect me?"

I responded "I don't think our government cares if you are protected. I don't think they want you to be here. I think they see you as a gentrifier."

She was hesitant to tell me because she was worried it would upset me. She was right. I'm upset.

I'm upset because I want my hometown to feel safe. I want my government to care about our residents.

$%#@$ - I want to feel safe too.

It doesn't matter if "it's just stuff."

It's scary as hell to have someone enter your home.

The fact that we as a city have accepted burglaries and property crime as "the cost of living here" ignores the emotional toll.

This isn't right.

Two liberal women in San Francisco starting to see things in a different light.

For the record -- I have zero interest in owning or using a gun.

I believe in outsourcing that responsibility to highly trained professionals.

It's very problematic when people think they need guns to live safely in an urban environment.

This year I cannot tell you how many people admitted to me that they bought a gun.

This is not the right direction.

[69360]

They aren't looters. They aren't smash and grabbers. I've created a new PC term for them. They are now known as reparationists.

[Brian4Liberty]

An LA Nordstrom looting on Thanksgiving Eve is the latest in a run of smash-and-grab raids across California

A robbery at a Nordstrom department store in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, on Thanksgiving Eve is the latest in a string of smash-and-grab raids happening across California.
...
https://news.yahoo.com/la-nordstrom-...143108659.html

[Brian4Liberty]

They aren't looters. They aren't smash and grabbers. I've created a new PC term for them. They are now known as reparationists.

Yes, I have used that term also comrade. They are heroes to the revolution.

"Looting" is a racist term:

We saw similar crimes happen in the wake of the George Floyd protests, but are the past weekend's crimes truly considered looting?

Race and Social Justice Reporter Julian Glover is here to give us some context of looting.

"As the Bay Area grapples with a wave of seemingly organized smash and grab robberies this weekend, policing and journalism analysts are cautioning against the use of the term looting," Julian says.
...
But according to the California Penal Code, what we saw was not looting.

The penal code defines looting as "theft or burglary...during a 'state of emergency', 'local emergency', or 'evacuation order' resulting from an earthquake, fire, flood, riot or other natural or manmade disaster."

To some, the distinction may be small, but Lorenzo Boyd, PhD, Professor of Criminal Justice & Community Policing at the University of New Haven, and a retired veteran police officer, emphasized that words matter.

"Looting is a term that we typically use when people of color or urban dwellers are doing something. We tend not to use that term for other people when they do the exact same thing," said Boyd.
...
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ex...abs/ar-AAR0QFf

[Brian4Liberty]

Up to 30 people conduct robbery at Best Buy in Burnsville
Nov. 27, 2021

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A group of 20 to 30 people grabbed numerous electronic items at a Best Buy store in Burnsville and quickly fled before police could arrive.
...
https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/...n-16655338.php