daniel chigunwe
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. – Groups of masked and hooded teenagers broke into and swarmed shops in Philadelphia’s city centre, grabbing merchandise and fleeing on foot in flash mob-style raids, authorities and witnesses say.
An Apple Store was hit at about 8pm local time on Tuesday and police chased fleeing teenagers who raided the shop, recovering dropped iPhones and a “pile of iPads” at one spot, a police statement said.
More than 100 people who appeared to be teenagers looted a Lululemon store, NBC10 Philadelphia reported, citing a police officer.
Video posted on social media showed mostly masked youths in hoodies running out of Lululemon and police officers grabbing several and tackling them to the sidewalk, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
No injuries were immediately reported but CBS Philadelphia said a security guard was assaulted at a Foot Locker outlet.
The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reported that more than 20 people were arrested, many of whom were young people, during the theft and vandalism spree on Tuesday night.
According to the Inquirer, the city’s acting police commissioner John Stanford said the young people involved appeared to have coordinated the raids using social media and “a caravan of cars” was moving around locations in the city and breaking into shops. – Al Jazeera-AP
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