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‘This is nuts!’ More video emerges of 30-50 looters shockingly ransacking LA Nordstrom store

August 14, 2023 | | Print Article

The brazen robbery of a Los Angeles Nordstrom department store by a gang of 30-50 looters continues to shock the nation’s consciousness as more video emerges.

Over the weekend, the mob of thieves engaged in an organized ransacking of the Nordstrom store at the Westfield Topanga Mall in Woodland Hills, complete with bear spray used to neutralize security guards. Snatching luxury handbags and high-end clothing, the crooks made off with up to $100,000 worth of merchandise, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

In the process, the mob totally ransacked the store leaving behind a wake of destruction that’s hard to fathom. Adding insult to injury, the same Nordstrom was looted in November 2021 by robbers who were ALSO armed with bear spray, according to the Daily Mail.

The footage seen below made the rounds Saturday:

But new footage shared online by Noel Escobar, who was in the store at the time, shows just how destructive the thieves were in the smash-and-grab robbery.

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“Damn, this is f**king crazy y’all. This is nuts,” he can be heard saying in the footage.

“I was shopping at Topanga Mall when this happened!! They started stealing all the Designer from Nordstroms,” the caption read.

Another clip captured how widespread the heist was, leaving whatever security the store may have had helpless in trying to prevent the loss.

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Los Angeles was the most hard-hit metropolitan area by theft in 2020 and 2021, according to the National Retail Federation’s 2022 retail security survey, followed by San Francisco/Oakland.

Rachel Michelin, president of the California Retailers Association (CRA), faults the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, also known as Prop 47, which was passed in 2014 and downgraded crimes like theft of goods under $950 from felonies to misdemeanors. The problem is compounded by soft-on-crime liberal prosecutors, resulting in repeat offenders preying on retail chains in California.

“That’s where there is a flaw in Prop 47 because Prop 47 was promised to say, ‘Oh, we’re gonna have safe schools and communities,’” Michelin said. “Well, we don’t.”

“When they made the changes, particularly to the retail theft… they opened this huge loophole where there’s zero consequence for the behavior because I’m not going to be held accountable for going in and stealing,” she added.

Mayor Karen Bass (D) issued the following statement:

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“What happened today at the Nordstrom in the Topanga Mall is absolutely unacceptable. Those who committed these acts and acts like it in neighboring areas must be held accountable. The Los Angeles Police Department will continue to work to not only find those responsible for this incident but to prevent these attacks on retailers from happening in the future.”

 

And should police nab the criminals, the odds are in their favor that local prosecutors will go easy on them.

Tom Tillison
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