Youth mob ransacks Los Angeles-area gas station store
ARCO gas station convenience store targeted in Compton, California.
A video recorded a mob of California youth breaking into a gas station convenience store and then stealing what police say were thousands of dollars of products.
The incident happened early Sunday morning in Compton, California, after a large group of people blocked an intersection as part of a street takeover, with video footage showing cars drifting in circles and screeching around 2:30 a.m., according to KLTA.
"It's unbelievable, unreal. I've never seen anything like that happen here," Greg Johnson, a Compton resident and customer of the ARCO station that was looted, told ABC7 in reaction to the ransacking.
ARCO staff said a clerk hid in the bathroom while the looting occurred.
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Unidentified people are seen early Sunday, April 16, breaking into an ARCO gas station convenience store in Compton, California. (AIO FILMZ)
Video taken of the incident shows unidentified people first crowding around the entrance of the convenience store at the ARCO gas station and kicking down its glass door to gain entry.
Once inside, people could be seen swiping items from the stores’ shelves, with one smiling person taking packages of condoms and cigarettes.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said products collectively worth thousands of dollars were stolen and that the store suffered serious damage, ABC7 reported.
Deputies at the Compton station were responding to incidents throughout the night, but police said that since they are "currently limited with their staffed personnel," they "couldn't intervene with the giant takeover groups for safety concerns" and being "outnumbered," according to ABC7.
No arrests have been made in connection to the incident.
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A man is seen taking packages of condoms inside the ARCO store in Compton, California, early Sunday. (AIO FILMZ)
Sgt. Clarence Williams of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told the Los Angeles Times that the street takeover near the ARCO gas station was one of three in the area that night but that he had never seen a flash mob break into a store "to that level."
By the time police arrived, the crowd had scattered, he said.
Around 100 people were involved, and the area was left covered in trash and tire marks, KTLA reports.
The ARCO gas station in Compton, California, was targeted by a mob of youth. (Google Maps)
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"It makes me angry," Norrice Heron, whom KTLA said witnessed the events, told the station. "It makes me angry when they do that to the streets and put everybody in danger.
An investigation into the footage of the looting is reportedly ongoing.
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