Video captured a mob of thieves swarming a Nordstrom in Canoga Park as they cleared out the store during a destructive robbery on Saturday.

Chaos ensued as a large group of masked thieves clad in dark clothing scrambled around the store, grabbing armfuls of designer clothing, purses, accessories and more.

Los Angeles police received reports of the mass robbery at the Westfield Topanga mall around 4 p.m.

Police said anywhere between 20-50 suspects are believed to be involved, although the exact number has not been confirmed.

The thieves were seen violently grabbing whatever merchandise they could carry, with many seen ripping the security devices attached to designer purses and luggage items. Store shelves and display racks were destroyed, knocked over and littered across the floor along with a ton of fallen merchandise.

At one point, a security guard who tried to intervene was attacked with a chemical spray, police said. It’s unclear what that person’s condition is.

The suspects all fled in multiple getaway cars before officers could arrive. Guests were evacuated from the department store as officers cordoned off the scene during a busy Saturday.

The estimated dollar amount of stolen merchandise is not yet known.

Citizen video later showed store employees sweeping up broken glass from the floor and clearing the mess and debris strewn everywhere. Details on how the smash-and-grab robbery was coordinated remain under investigation.

  • fear@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Again I don’t condone this and don’t necessarily believe this was the reasoning behind what happened, but no it’s not wiser to steal food over luxury goods if your intent is to feed your starving family for the foreseeable future. With one handful you can leave with $10k from that store. This is why they were dragging the purses that were basically fused to the display racks. A single purse might be $3k. So a thousand times the price of a loaf of bread. If you already made the decision that you’re stealing to support your family, are you going to want to do it every other day, or are you going to want to grab one purse that feeds your family for a month?