Collective and simultaneous robbery in the USA leaves 50 prisoners
Around 50 people are suspected of being involved in a coordinated robbery of several stores in the city of Philadelphia, in the United States, this Wednesday (27).
According to police, 52 people were arrested. They are accused of illegal entry into shops and theft. Among them are 3 minors. At least 30 have already been formally charged.
They broke into the shops after work and broke the windows. They filled plastic bags with whatever they could find and tried to escape.
It was a kind of simultaneous theft attack. They broke into sporting goods stores, liquor stores and Apple electronics stores.
The attack began after a court ruling: a police officer was not convicted for shooting and killing a driver who rolled down his car window.
There was protest against the decision, but according to police the thieves were not demonstrators but “a bunch of criminal opportunists”. (see below).
Organization via the Internet
Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney said on social media that the attacks were “a despicable display of opportunistic criminal activity.”
City hall and the police department are examining which areas of the city may need more officers.
According to the police, people arranged the action on social media. It is being investigated whether groups in vehicle caravans reached the city center.
Shortly before 8 p.m., a large number of young people were near a shopping area in Philadelphia, and officers noticed a group of men wearing masks.
That’s when the theft began in a sneaker store. When police arrived, they discovered the store had been ransacked in a coordinated attack. The thieves fled, but the police managed to arrest one person.
Shortly thereafter, police received similar calls at the Lululemon sporting goods store, where several people were arrested. Shortly thereafter, police received a similar call from the Apple Store. There were no arrests there and the store lost phones and tablets.
That same night, there were protests in Philadelphia over the acquittal of a police officer who shot at a driver through a closed car window. The driver died.
Initially, the police stated that there had been an exchange of gunfire. Then they changed the story: the driver had a knife in fact, the video footage captured by the police uniform camera shows he had a knife.
The court ruled that the police officer fired because he believed the driver was armed.
1 of 5 Store interior after looting in the city of Philadelphia Photo: Elizabeth Robertson/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP 2 of 5 Apple display after looting in the city of Philadelphia Photo: Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP 3 of 5 Apple Store closed after night of looting in Philadelphia Photo: Matt Rourke/AP 4 of 5 Items from a sporting goods store in Philadelphia Photo: Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP 5 of 5 A store was broken into in Philadelphia, USA Photo: Alejandro A. Alvarez/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP
Police arrested more than 50 people in Philadelphia