‘Flash Rob’ Mob Of Up To 17 Teens Ransacks Nike Store In LA 

A throng of teenagers stole $12,000 worth of goods from a Los Angeles Nike store in a ‘flash rob mob’ that was captured on video.

Shortly before 6 pm, over a dozen robbers bombarded the Nike Community Store on South Alameda Street.

Footage shows them loading garbage sacks with boxes of sneakers and rushing about the store, their arms brimming with clothes, as customers look on hopelessly.

Several of the teens hide their faces behind black masks. One is wearing a pair of yellow gloves.

The LAPD singled out 17 suspects. One was identified by their ‘distinct’ sweatshirt featuring an emblem of a bonsai tree and the words ‘Ritual of the Spirit’.

A police press release describes the suspects as ‘four females and 13 males, Black, varying in age from 15 to 20 years old.

The teens escaped in five vehicles including a tan Infiniti four-door, a grey 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 commercial robbery rate in the state.

In 2022, the state saw a 28.7 per cent jump from the low rates of the pandemic years.

While the shoplifting rate stays below pre-pandemic levels, this doesn’t account for other types of retail theft like commercial burglary.

After seeing a 5.8 per cent increase last year, the rate for this kind of theft is 15.7 per cent higher than in 2019.

This figure includes lost product costs, increased insurance costs, raised price of goods and unrealised wages.

Law enforcement has embarked on a statewide crackdown on organised retail robbery, which is expected to cost the state over $19 billion this year.

Just this week, the California Highway Patrol’s Organised Retail Theft Task Force reported the results of a huge crackdown spanning several counties.

The sting meted out 137 arrests as well as the recovery of three looted vehicles and more than $60,000 in goods.

Governor Gavin Newsom said in August that the state would be tripling CHP resources in the Los Angeles area to fight retail crime.

He said in a press release that the CHP was the proven leader in tackling organised retail theft and through this expanded partnership the agency would further assist the city in doing its job to keep Angelenos and their business safe.

Stores will ultimately be a thing of the past with stores going online for their sales. More and more shops are shutting down and going online these days, at least that way they can’t have their goods looted. However, this is more evidence of society’s moral decline.

Even if these people are caught, the prosecutors and judges will just give them a hug and let them walk free with no penalty, but this should be treated like an organised crime.

All shops should have automated gates that come down that prevent the looters from leaving before this behaviour rests its ugly head.