Police are looking for 17 suspects who swarmed a Nike store on Monday in a flash-mob-style attack that stripped $12,000 worth of merchandise from racks and shelves.
Video footage of the incident around 5:50 p.m. Monday captures the masked and gloved suspects shoving sneaker boxes into trash bags and swiping armfuls of clothing before fleeing the store on the 9800 block of South Alameda Street, according to a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) statement on the grand theft. The department’s Commercial Crimes Division, Organize Crime Retail Taskforce described the suspects as four Black females and 13 Black males ages 15 to 20.
California has been a hotbed of criminal activity against Nike. One suspect hit a Nike store nearly three dozen times before he was arrested last month. In another incident, police made four arrests after three “grab-and-run” thefts left Nike $14,000 poorer. The Swoosh’s East Los Angeles store is a frequent target. A stakeout there this summer dismantled a 12-person retail crime ring. Losses in a theft last year totaled $17,000. Nike is a popular target elsewhere, too, with cargo theft and insider theft becoming an especially big problem.
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Earlier this year California pledged $267 million to fight the growing retail crime surge and quickly saw results from that effort.