80 robbers storm Bay Area Nordstrom, fill 25 cars with looted goods and flee in flashmob-style raid

Eighty looters ransacked a Nordstrom store in Walnut Creek, California, not far from San Francisco, in what police called a coordinated, “organized theft.” 

Witnesses reported about 25 cars blocking the street before around 80 robbers with ski masks emerged and ran into the store. They emerged less than a minute later with armfuls of designer goods, which they brought back to their cars before fleeing together. 

Police managed to arrest three of the thieves who face charges including robbery, conspiracy, burglary, possession of stolen property and a weapons charge. 

Three Nordstrom employees were injured in the lightning-fast maneuver, two of whom were struck by looters and one sprayed with pepper spray. 

Walnut Creek Police told NBC News this was not connected to the nationwide demonstrations following the recent acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, who was cleared of all charges on the grounds of self-defense after killing two people and injuring another during riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin last summer. 

The mass theft is the latest in a series of brazen, public thefts to hit the Bay Area in recent weeks. One notable incident involved Iceberg Diamonds in Concord, where video shows nine people entering with hammers and smashing the glass displays to steal jewelry on display. 

San Francisco has seen a sharp rise in shoplifting since a local law in 2014 downgraded theft of property from a felony to a misdemeanor if the item was less than $950 in value. Shoplifters have avoided items over $950 until recently, as these high-profile thefts demonstrate. 

Many locals blame San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s “soft-on-crime” approach for the continued shopliftings. Boudin is facing a recall election next year after a petition gathered 83,000 signatures – well over the 51,000 required by the city. 

Walgreens cited organized retail theft for its decision to close five stores in the area on Oct. 15. The Wall Street Journal reported that CVS uncovered a network of organized professional thieves, called boosters, who were responsible for the theft of nearly $50 million in products from its Northern California stores over five years.