A 7-Eleven in San Pedro was robbed and ransacked by a large crowd overnight, authorities said, the latest in a string of flash-mob robberies that led a city councilman on Saturday to call for additional police patrols and other emergency resources.
Around 2 a.m., police responded to a disturbance at the 7-Eleven at 114 N. Gaffey Street. A group of 30-50 people took about $40,000 worth of items, including $1,000 in cigarettes and $20,000 in lottery tickets, ABC7 reported. Footage from inside the store showed merchandise and displays strewn across the floor.
Police did not immediately confirm whether the robbery was related to a nearby street takeover.
No arrests were made.
Los Angeles City Councilman Tim McOsker on Saturday called for the city to provide more police patrols and other safety resources. The latest crime followed several similar ones recently at 7-Eleven stores around the Los Angeles area.
“This isn’t just about property damage or items stolen — it is also about a victim, an employee, fearing for their safety, and a neighborhood that is both in fear and now without a convenience store on the corner,” said McOsker, whose district includes San Pedro.
“It’s deeply disturbing to me that incidents like these are becoming more common. We need more resources in our 911 operations and increased staffing in the LAPD. We could have stopped this at the street takeover before it escalated,” he said. “That’s why we need to expedite hiring in the LAPD. Our officers must be able to respond quickly to prevent these incidents from happening.”
On August 9, a flash mob of teenagers trashed a 7-Eleven in Pico-Robertson.
Surveillance video showed the vandals stuffing their hands with food, knocking over aisles, breaking the cash register, busting windows, and taking cigarettes. Video posted to the Citizen app showed thousands of dollars of destruction.
“They destroyed everything, even the coffee machine,” an employee said.
“They must have planned it online,” Michael Lambert, a security guard, said. “They didn’t just randomly do it.”
A week later, three robberies occurred within minutes of each other at Hollywood-area 7-Elevens. They involved a large number of youths who stole merchandise, vandalized the stores and got away on bicycles.
It was not immediately clear if any of the thieves who robbed the San Pedro store were involved in the previous robberies. There have been no arrests in any of the cases.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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