Group of up to 50 people shoplift about $100K worth of luxury items from L.A. mall; used bear spray against guards
nbcnews.com
Between 30 to 50 people swarmed the Nordstrom at the Westfield Topanga Mall in Woodland Hills, making off with thousands of dollars worth of luxury handbags and high-end clothing, an LAPD spokesman told NBC News.
LOL why are they calling it "shoplifting" this isn't some bored kid stuffing a shirt under their clothes. This is an organized raid.
They even mention the use of bear spray. That alone turned it from being shoplifting to a robbery. Since now there's the inclusion of violence and/or threat of violence
Yep, from what I understand: Larceny (illegal taking and asportation of an item or items) + Assault = Robbery
I know why
Still just shoplifting.
Wrong. The second they used the bear spray it went from shoplifting to a robbery. Because now violence or threat of violence is involved.
I'm no lawyer, but it might even be considered armed robbery depending on how the state views sprays.
I'm a lawyer and you're absolutely right legally speaking. In the eyes of the police though, it's shopifting, or at best like shoplifting+. The perpatrators had masks on and got away. The store is insured for the loss.
Nobody is going to look hard for these people.
It makes me laugh how many people think this is a new development only in CA and in 2023.
This happened back in the 90s to my mom while working retail. Like 10 people came in and carried off the furniture they had in the store, because they knew the employees were instructed not to do anything.
Shit like this has been happening all over the US for decades, the media just decided it was the hot new topic to get more clicks recently. Even the Walgreens CEO who said theft was so awful they had to close a bunch of stores later admitted they "cried wolf".
Rich people love the idea that theft is out of control in the media because it gives them a talking point to keep us peasants in control. Starbucks was charged by the labor board for closing down unionizing stores under the guise of "safety concerns". Starbucks isn't the only place that has been pulling that shit.
And that's not to say I agree with 50 people bear spraying people and stealing luxury shit either. This isn't someone stealing food from the grocery store to feed their kids. It wasn't billionaires working in the store, it's people working a shitty retail job for shitty pay no doubt. But it is a topic being overblown for rich people's benefit.
The biggest theft is wage theft. But nobody cares because is ok to stole from someone that is poorer that you.
No one cares about the fact that they stole some overpriced pirses dumbass, were calling them pieces of shit because they ran in and bear sprayed people who would have never intervened in the first place. The people doing this have no concept of class solidarity and the whole reason they're stealing in the first place is for posturing, it has nothing to do with "sending a message"
Same energy as people bitching about the homeless in SF and Portland. It's like have you seen our downtown bro, there's a tent city
Strongly considering buying property in Portland because values are depressed because of the propaganda/fear-mongering. I think there is a small, but legitimate risk that it eventually becomes true, though.
Downtown Portland has gone to shit, no doubt about it. But there are problems in every city that needs addressing. For what it's worth I'd move to Portland still, the area is beautiful and much better than the increasingly overpriced desert I'm living in
Have you actually been to Portland? It's not propaganda or fear-mongering. There are massive tent cities of homeless people under all of the major overpasses, and at a few random points throughout the city. It's a very real problem.
I used to work at a dollar store back in the day, and I was warned that this guy comes in every few weeks and grabs a bunch of jackets then runs out the back door.
No shit like clockwork it happened.
I was warned not to engage and just call the cops. My first time, I was in the back taking a shit in the bathroom next to the rear emergency exit. I heard the alarm go off and jumped up, pulled up my pants and ran out to catch him. He ran out back, I ran out after him. He pulled a gun on me and I learned my lesson. Let the dude have the jackets. Got it.
How is it overblown? It is a real issue with law enforcement in America. People are being permitted to destroy and steal property. We need to get to the root cause of what’s going on their. It’s due to failures on multiple fronts. You can’t just say ignore it because capitalism bad. Capitalism is a founding principle of this country’s economy. You can’t play the card that these people are protesting corruption because others are enriching themselves by stealing goods. That’s not noble in any way and doesn’t help employees.
It's changed recently to be far more organized. Crime goes in cycles though, catalytic converter and retail rings are just the big ones right now.
It's also "over $100k" if you believe that cheaply made stuff is worth that price.
Nordstrom is a store I go to when I need a laugh. Their prices are the peak of comedy.
My Ex used to work in Saks 5th Avenue, so I would often browse around while waiting for them. I once saw a short sleeve button up shirt on the clearance rack that I really liked. It was $175 after the discount. I never seriously shopped in there after that.
Nordstrom will put high end goods near brands that are more affordable. It's like having an expensive bottle of wine on the menu so the customer doesn't feel so bad about paying 50 bucks. If you need to laugh go to a genuine luxury store and the prices are insane. Like $10k for a back pack nuts.
Also this is just 2k per person who would risk that?!
This country is so cutthroat capitalist that now even the consumers are becoming predatory.
This is organized crime.
Loosely by definition sure, but not real organized crime
Looks like run of the mill theft to me. Sure, perpetrated by a lot of people at once, but without proof of a legitimate business operating as a money laundering front for the proceeds of the fenced goods, this isn't organized crime.
"Keep those wages low, the poors will never do anything about it"
“I’m poor so I’m not responsible for stealing luxury goods and bear spraying minimum wage security guards.”
I grew up poor. I didn’t do this. Your comment is dripping with the implicit accusation that poor people are basically just animals. Incapable of controlling themselves when they see nice handbags.
Poverty doesn’t affect everyone the same. To try to discount the fact that poverty increases crime just because you aren’t a criminal is ignoring the complexity of humanity.
To say that this particular crime was caused by poverty also ignores the complexity of humanity.
We can all speculate until we’re blue in the face, but I agree that lessening poverty will lessen crime of most types.
Thing is, there's a difference between stealing a loaf of bread and looting a Nordstrom and assaulting the guards.
Stealing from wealthy corporations is an extremely valid and morally acceptable form of protest. Hell, it's a morally good thing to do even if it's not meant as a protest.
I'm not going to defend assaulting the guards, though, except in the case of self-defense. Store security guards have no business using force against shoplifters, and most company policies align with that fact.
Yeah have you ever been in a Nordstrom? Fuck that place, snatch all the handbags you can and sell them on eBay I don't really care.
You shouldn't bear spray security and maybe they should be charged for it but at least he wasn't shot or something.
i feel bad for the employees who had to deal with it and clean up after and the guards that got assaulted. i dont feel bad for the above store level managers and execs who have to deal with this shit.
So all those people who work for a living and contribute to society, who save up that money to buy those handbags are just schmucks? Give me a break.
People that work for a living do not shop at Nordstrom's
The items were stolen from Nordstrom's, not individuals
What a tacitly disingenuous statement. What the fuck are you sniffing "people who work don't shop there."
Your edgy 14 your old comment is ridiculous. What a jibe on the rich you just did!
The items were stolen period. Fact. A crime. Never mind your rage against capitalism. Commit a crime and get put in jail.
Commit a bodily crime over property, get put in the ground.
You know someone is a shit person when they equate income with value as a human being.
Even if that were a valid take, almost every working poor person contributes more to society than nearly any rich person does, and would therefore still have more human worth.
There was also needless destruction. I can see breaking a glass case to grab some watches, but it appears that there was also destruction for the sake of destruction (at least in the video I watched).
Oh no, things. Whatever will they do with the insurance payout.
Who actually gives a fuck about corporate property being destroyed? These companies commit more theft from their workers than all other theft combined. They objectively deserve this.
I don't care about the corp. I care about the workers who have to clean it up.
There is a difference, that doesn't mean they don't have similar root causes.
Everybody has different needs, but imo if you work as a security guard for a place like this AND take it seriously you not only signed up for violence but you deserve it. These companies are robbing us blind of good health, personal space and time on the planet- why defend that?
TFA even mentions that one of the getaway cars was a BMW. Undoubtedly, there were both impoverished people and people who jumped at an opportunity involved.
Making people respond like you just did is the only reason they included the BMW part. I'm in California and there are pages and pages of early to mid 2000s BMWs available near me for less than $5k, which is significantly less than I paid for my car that no one would ever look at and think I'm rich.
If poverty was driving crime rates, then most of the world (as most countries are much much poorer than the US) would be a crime infested shit hole. Somehow that's not true at all. US crime is not related to poverty in any way.
All you have to do is look at the crime statistics and income statistics for cities across North America. Cities that have lower GDPs (less money, less opportunity) generally have higher crime rates. If despair is high, people will act out of desperation. What you are wilfully ignoring is the fact that "countries that are poorer than the US" also are drastically different culturally than the US. Almost nowhere else on Earth has the same kind of income disparity that the US has. You can't take a developing nation where 50% of people live in poverty, and compare it to a developed nation where no one needs to live in poverty but are forced to do so by manipulated housing and job markets.
Lol what? Do you even hear yourself?
Of course poor people aren’t “basically just animals”, the OP didn’t imply that. What the OP is saying is that when genuine opportunity doesn’t exist, some people will find their own opportunity and/or weigh the consequences of their actions differently.
Wealth and income disparity have consequences and this is one of them. Public unrest is another eventual outcome. Something needs to be done about it or something will be done about it.
Coming soon in America: Mall cops with guns!
Sign up now for our 1 week certification program to be ready for your exciting career!
Do you:
Believe property has intrinsic value beyond the arbitrary price placed on it by the producer?
Believe that value is higher than that of a human life?
Really want to shoot someone to prove your devotion to property?
Believe harsh punishment up to and including death is a deterrent to crime?
Head over to your local mall’s security office and sign up today!
Your comment is on the nose.
I have had many arguments with people over the fact you shouldn't want to shoot someone over property. I'm a gun owner but I don't carry a gun and I don't believe a life is worth less than property. The amount of people I know who carry a gun and have said they would shot someone for stealing is incredibly high and troubling.
I don't know if it is a direct result of the daily dehumanization of ethnic groups and criminals we are bombarded with all day long everyday or if it is much more complex but there is a real problem in the US when large groups of people don't value other people's lives.
Once you use threats and violence to steal other's property, you open yourself to bodily harm. Simple as.
I don’t understand the disconnect some people have when it comes to property. Property (and money) is a store of my time. My literal life. I worked for a year to be able to afford my car. You think someone else is entitled to steal an entire year of my life? That’s as close to endorsement of slavery as it gets. Do I think another should be permitted to steal my life? Absolutely not, under any circumstances. I don’t want to kill anyone, and I’ll give them a warning, but I would absolutely defend my life.
When you value someone else's stuff more than your own life then that's all that needs to be said. Condoning criminality breeds criminals.
I never said anything about condoning criminality. I said valuing property higher than life isn't right. I said this in another post a few days ago but I'll say it again. I live in a high crime area and I am sick and tired of people stealing from not only me but my neighbors and from businesses that support the community's needs. That doesn't change the fact I think it's morally repugnant to want to kill someone for property theft.
If we invested more in community building and opportunities along with courts and police departments upholding the law we would have less of these types of crimes. Where I live the police stopped policing because they got mad after several officers were charged with the murder of a kid they arrested. In my eyes that makes them the same as the people stealing from the community. The courts here rarely convict juveniles so the kids know they can get away with just about anything.
While I say I live in a high crime area I also know that overall in the US crime rates have been declining over the years especially violent crime rates.
Wikipedia Crime stats
It's morally repugnant to threaten someone's well-being over property. One begats the other. Cause and affect.
💀
@Deftdrummer @Rashnet
As does condoning those like yourself.
Goodbye
Imagine being an oblivious shopper trying out clothes in the change room, eventually coming out with your selections, only emerging to a store that looks like a hurricane went through it.
Unintentionally direct action
The mace part isn't great but otherwise I say go get it.
This is nothing compared to what these corpos stole from us.
And how they treat the laborers that make the clothing.
Malls? They still have those?
It's really only these super luxury ones left that are doing well.
Good
They maced people
The kids grew up learning heists on gta online, I for one approve of this well coordinated maneuvering against the establishment that steals from its people every day.
When they steal food, I cheer. When they steal jewelry and snearks and whatnot I lol
Ban all mainstream social media
Will somebody think of the housewives?!
Flash mobs doing shoplifting should be the new TikTok trend, can’t stop everyone.
Please do not downvote people you disagree with if they're contributing to the conversation.
For better or for worse, I think this ship has sailed.
💀
They don't matter on an individual level. They do matter for keeping relevant content at the top.
I suppose people in California get the kind of society they vote for.
A society where a store can sell $2k purses made in sweatshops by children in the 3rd world while its own veterans languish with addiction and PTSD problems brought on by the ever-more-unsustainable quest for cheap oil?
That's a fucked society right there.
This doesn't really effect Californians though, except that security guard, rip. The only people it effects is the owners of Nordstrom who lost $500 of stuff they bought from Vietnam.
This happens all over the country all the times I experienced it several times in 2004 to 2007 at one retail store.
In that case it was organized Columbia gangs associated with human trafficking, coyotes would bring people to America and then force them to shoplift. They all arrive at the same time in stolen cars. The car key is left on top of a wheel in the parking lot in case the driver is caught. There wasn't a department store loss prevention employee in the Northeast that didn't know about Columbians.
But hey if you're gullible and love corporate media, do your thing. They never leak the videos of them doing wage theft.
Good for them.
No, fuck them for harming somebody.
The biggest form of theft is wage theft, and bear spray is a helluva lot better than some alternative methods.
I can't muster up sympathy for security guards who work at an obscenely wealthy mall.
Edit: Let me clarify, these men are paid to use violence to protect the interests of capital.
When have you ever seen a mall security guard use violence?
When have you ever seen a mall security guard that isn’t overweight or retirement age? Or both?
You don't see the loss prevention staff.
They carry live weapons in some cities, but more often they carry pepper spray and tasers. They also work with the police to incarcerate people who threaten the profitability of the stores on the property. State violence is still violence, the most cowardly kind.