A mob of about 50 targeted a southern California 7-Eleven in a mass theft early Sunday morning — but this time the suspects beat up a store worker who was trying to keep the mob members out of the store, leaving him with a bloody nose, KTLA-TV reported, citing authorities.
You can view raw cellphone video of the brutal incident here. The video’s caption states that the violence took place in Los Angeles, but KTLA’s video report — which uses part of the same raw clip — indicates that it took place in Anaheim around 1:30 a.m. during a street takeover.
One mob member yells, ‘Hey, throw a trash can at him!’
The raw video shows two hooded perps trying to pull open the 7-Eleven’s doors while one worker tries to pull the doors shut and keep them out.
At one point, the store worker doubles over in pain as he’s apparently hit in the midsection. He then picks up a stick, and the crooks run away — but only momentarily.
As engines scream and tires screech in the background — presumably the ongoing street takeover — one of the suspects who initially tried to pull the doors open reappears at the front of the store at 50 South Knott Avenue holding what appears to be a cinderblock.
With that, the worker in the store backs away from the doors, and the cinderblock-carrying guy moves in — along with a flood of other mob members.
As the suspect carrying the cinderblock demands the worker’s stick, another mob member rips an entire rack of lighters off the store’s counter.
But the 7-Eleven worker gamely fights back, swinging his stick at a couple of suspects who retreat — but more and more mob members enter the store, easily outnumbering the worker. One mob member yells, “Hey, throw a trash can at him!”
Soon another mob member enters the store from the rear, and the raw video catches him standing right behind the store worker who apparently has no idea he’s there. Suddenly, that mob member shoves the worker from behind, causing him to fall to the floor and cry out in pain while the mob hoots and hollers with glee.
The worker finally retreats to safety, heading to the rear of the store while the looting continues — and that’s where the raw clip ends.
Police told KTLA it’s unclear how much merchandise the mob of about 40 to 50 members took, adding that they fled the scene before authorities arrived; no arrests were made. KTLA’s video report said a cash register was stolen.
Those with information about the Anaheim 7-Eleven incident should contact the Anaheim Police Department, the station said, adding that those wishing to remain anonymous can call the Orange County Crime Stoppers Hotline at 855-TIP-OCCS.
You can view a second video report here about the incident that indicates the worker who fought back is the store owner.
More of the same
As readers of Blaze News know all too well, mob looting of 7-Elevens has become a kind of trend in Los Angeles of late. In August, a mob of about 20 individuals pulled off three nighttime smash-and-grab robberies in a span of 20 minutes. Last month, 50 juveniles on bicycles easily ransacked and robbed a 7-Eleven in L.A. and escaped police.
But late last month, there was a small break when a handful of parents turned in their kids after L.A. police shared nearly 200 surveillance images of recent 7-Eleven mob robberies by “youthful males.”
The new police release unveiled a more extensive rundown of the “flash robberies” at 7-Elevens, saying they involve 20 to 40 suspects on bicycles who began targeting the stores on July 12. Police said all of the 7-Elevens are within a short distance of each other in the Rampart, Hollywood, Wilshire, and West L.A. Divisions. Police said 13 of the 14 incidents have occurred on Friday evenings.
KTLA in a previous report said Assistant LAPD Chief Blake Chow told the L.A. Board of Police Commissioners that the news release generated numerous tips from the public that led to arrests. What’s more, Chow said a parent brought in a juvenile who was involved in one of the robberies, adding that two other parents also turned in their kids. In each instance, the child was booked for robbery. Investigators learned through interviews that many of the juveniles involved in the 7-Eleven flash robberies were not from the neighborhoods where the crimes took place, Chow told KTLA.
More arrests are anticipated as anonymous tips continue to come in and school resource officers work to identify other juveniles involved, Chow added to the station.
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