A large mob of looters broke into a gas station convenience store early Sunday morning in Compton, California following a street takeover, stealing thousands of dollars of merchandise while the clerk hid inside, resulting in police not bothering to contain it and only one person being detained.

(Video Credit: ABC7)

Approximately 100 were involved in ransacking an Arco gas station near Alondra Boulevard and Central Avenue, according to ABC7.

Video of the street takeover shows a large group of people blocking the four-way intersection with cars drifting in circles with tires screeching loudly around 2:30 am on Sunday morning.

The intersection of Central Avenue and Alondra Boulevard was covered in tire marks and trash littered the sidewalk outside of the Arco minimart after the illegal street takeover. The crowd dispersed in all directions quickly after the looting occurred, according to KTLA5.

The throng of looters can be seen pressing the front of the store with one man breaking the glass door and several kicking it in. Dozens of looters crowded behind them ready to surge in, bum-rushing the establishment.

Los Angeles. A large mob of thug looters was caught on video looting a gas station in Compton and stealing thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise.
Deputies were outnumbered and unable to intervene amid various street takeovers and looting incidents in Compton overnight. pic.twitter.com/Qx4QeKEg4X

— Disidente Incontrolable (@Pjt432) April 17, 2023

It didn’t take long for them to break through and many can be seen grabbing everything from condoms to food, alcohol, and drinks.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department stated that serious damage was done to the store and that thousands of dollars of merchandise were stolen.

“It’s unbelievable. Unreal. I’ve never seen anything like that happen here,” Greg Johnson, who is a Compton resident and customer of the Arco gas station, said.

Tamara, who is also a Compton resident commented that just seeing such a huge mob of people frightened her.

“The mob of people period,” she remarked. “You don’t know how they are going to react once they get in. And if someone is in there I know that they are terrified.”

“It makes me angry,” Norrice Heron, who witnessed the chaos, said, “It makes me angry when they do that to the streets and put everybody in danger.

Imagine these places just one week after no restocking of food.

It is going to be a literal hell scape in some inner cities. They are almost there now, but imagine if they are actually starving. It seems almost inevitable.

— Magnus 𝕏 (@Magnus_Veritas) April 16, 2023

According to police, shots were fired about a block away from the store while it was being raided. No injuries were reported.

There were at least five illegal street takeovers that took place Saturday night according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD).

The two largest street takeovers took place at the intersections of Long Beach Boulevard and Rosecrans Avenue and were near the Arco looting incident.

Up to 500 people were involved in the illegal street races according to investigators. Both incidents evidently ended with break-ins and vandalism. One of them was a break-in at a laundromat.

Police claimed they did not try and stop the incidents because they were outnumbered. They responded to several incidents through the night according to LASD but were “currently limited with their staffed personnel” and “couldn’t intervene with the giant takeover groups for safety concerns.”

Disgracefully, the incidents culminated in only one person being detained, and no one was arrested.

The clerk who hid in the bathroom as the store was ransacked is doing okay, according to Arco staff who spoke with ABC7.

 

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