Lightning robberies terrorize US stores on Christmas Eve

They show up on the spur of the moment, rob a store in a few minutes and escape in cars: luxury brands are defenseless in the face of a wave of lightning robberies in USA on the eve of the end of the year celebrations.

In the most shocking of robberies In recent times, about 80 masked men in 25 cars stormed a high-end Nordstrom department store in Walnut Creek, east of San Francisco, Calif., on Saturday, snatching up luxury merchandise from the first floor and escaping in minutes.

The robbery occurred a day after 40 people looted a Louis Vuitton store in San Francisco’s Union Square in seconds and fled in cars.

And near Chicago, equally hit by a series of robberies Similarly, a gang of 14 criminals invaded another Louis Vuitton store in the Oak Brook suburb, taking more than $ 100,000 in purses and luxury clothing. It was the third attack on a Vuitton store in the Chicago area in a month.

Retailers across the country are taking note and precautions against potential knock-offs, as the size of robbery gangs and their planning skills make them difficult to stop.

“The level of robberies organized to stores that we are witnessing is simply unacceptable, ”said California Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday.

“Stores and shoppers should feel safe while doing their Christmas shopping,” he said.

Newson ordered a special support force within the California Highway Patrol to work with local police to address the problem.

Despite this, the number of robberies Lightning multiplied, with a gang of about forty thieves looting a jewelry store in Hayward, near San Francisco.

Near Oakland, a casual clothing store was also swept up: Security video shows more than 30 masked men entering a small store, grabbing shoes and clothing, and fleeing in less than a minute.

The robberies lightning, also called “robberies flash ”, have occurred for years in the United States, but multiplied in 2021, affecting small pharmacies, mid-level clothing chain stores and high-end luxury stores.

But the scale and speed of the attack on Nordstrom in Walnut Creek shocked many.

“I wouldn’t even qualify it as organized crime, that was domestic terrorism,” Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retail Association, told Fox40 television in Sacramento.

– Cheeky and graphic –

Jeffrey Ian Ross, a criminologist at the University of Baltimore, said there is nothing to indicate that the total robberies to stores has increased significantly in the United States.

However, according to the expert, the speed with which the footage of the robberies on newscasts and social media may have inspired others to copy them.

“It’s cheeky, it’s graphic,” he said.

Ross noted that police, already burdened with increasing cases of murders and other violent crimes, “just can’t keep up” with the volume of goods stolen and the people who resell them.

So far, only three people involved in the Walnut Creek robbery have been arrested, out of the roughly 80 people who participated.

On Tuesday, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced felony charges against nine individuals implicated in robberies of shops, including the Louis Vuitton store in Union Square.

Michelin, however, said California may need stricter laws against this type of crime, where social media appears to be used to coordinate criminals.

“We’re going to have awkward conversations and take a look at some of the laws” that “obviously aren’t working,” he told Fox40.