27 September 2023 , 18:30
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Innocent bystanders broke down in tears and ran for shelter as masked looters ransacked stores in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, a local worker said.
Police arrested 15 to 20 people after looters stuffed plastic bags with merchandise before fleeing Center City.
The flash mob-style attack hit stores including Foot Locker, Lululemon, and Apple in Philadelphia in what has been described as "a bunch of criminal opportunists... making an attempt to destroy the city." The unrest stretched from Center City to Northeast and West Philadelphia.
Interim Police Commissioner John Stanford said people appeared to have organised the tirade on social media and police are now probing "that there was possibly a caravan of a number of different vehicles that were going from location to location". Some people in that group were in custody.
The flash mob-style attack hit stores including Foot Locker, Lululemon, and Apple (FIONNUALA BOYLE)
Bystanders broke down in tears (FIONNUALA BOYLE)Alejandra T, a server at Pietro's Pizzeria located next to Lululemon, said "scared" bystanders rushed into the restaurant to take shelter from the chaos and that young women were left "in tears" following the outbreak.
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"We heard sirens and people shouting and suddenly people were running inside the restaurant," Alejandra told the Irish Star. "Young girls were crying and asking us to call their parents. They weren't involved, they were just there when it all kicked off.
"Two older women who were one of the last seated before we closed the kitchen asked if they could stay in the restaurant longer because they were too frightened to leave. They were scared the mob would come back.
Apple staff desperately try to hold the doors against looters (Instagram)
The incident followed an earlier peaceful protest over a judge's decision to dismiss murder and other charges against a Philadelphia police officer (Instagram)"We assured them that the situation had calmed down but let them stay there until they felt more at ease. We normally close at 8.30pm but didn't leave the restaurant until 9.30pm to make sure everyone was alright."
She added: "Police were grabbing who they could and arresting some of them but as soon as the police arrived, the group dispersed. Clothes were left outside on the sidewalk. The police cleared the scene when things calmed down. It was all over pretty fast but was still quite shocking."
Photographs taken from outside Lululemon on Wednesday afternoon showed masses of clothes strewn across the floor and piled on top of each other in a heap as two security men stood guard from inside the premises. Garments had been wiped clean from the racks and tens of passersby and camera crews stopped intermittently to peer inside.
Aftermath of a ransacked off-licence store in Philadelphia (AP)A notice on the door said the store was closed and business would resume "when it was safe to do so". At Apple, a huge whiteboard blocked any view into the store, making it impossible to see what damage, if any, had been caused. A notice confirmed the store was temporarily closed although staff could be seen milling around in the background. The footlocker was also closed while locksmiths gathered at the doorway to assess the situation.
There was reportedly an increased presence of youngsters in Center City shortly before 8pm and some cops stopped a group of males "dressed in black attire and wearing masks," according to a police news release.
At that time, 911 calls were flooding in about the Foot Locker store. When police arrived, they found it had been "ransacked in a coordinated attack," the news release said. The youngsters fled and at least one adult was arrested.
By 8:12pm, cops received similar reports from Lululemon, where multiple people were arrested. Calls were then directed police to the Apple Store, which lost phones and tablets, although many of those items have since been recovered, the news release said. No arrests were made there.
Footage online showed masked people in hoodies running out of Lululemon with merchandise and police officers grabbing several and tackling them to the ground. No injuries were reported, but a security guard was assaulted at the Foot Locker, according to CBS Philadelphia.
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The incident followed an earlier peaceful protest over a judge's decision to dismiss murder and other charges against a Philadelphia police officer who shot and killed a driver, Eddie Irizarry, through a rolled-up window. Stanford said the hooligans "took advantage" of the situation but the raid was not connected to the protest.
The thefts also occurred on the same day that Target announced it would close nine stores in four states, including one in New York City's East Harlem neighbourhood, and three in the San Francisco Bay Area, saying that theft and organized retail crime have threatened the safety of its workers and customers.