where the sheriff s department says up to ten people stole tools that thieves might use in robberies like these. hammers, sledge hammers, crow bars. four men were arrested in connection to that case. this is a trend that we have been seeing gradually increase, i would say, over the last year, year and a half. um, it, i would say, started mainly in the pharmaceutical and drugstore area, and has spread to department stores and luxury goods. reporter: tonight, a top concern among law enforcement analysts, that the thieves could become even more emboldened and violent. what if someone has a gun? it is totally possible that this could become even more violent, even more dangerous for those that work in these stores, the customers. reporter: so far, at least one security guard was pepper sprayed by robbers and in oakland, california, a security guard was killed while protecting a tv crew that was covering a smash-and-grab
retail stores in these smash and grab robberies. it s been happening and california to illinois to minnesota. the day after thanksgiving stores in los angeles, lakewood and monterey, california, all got hit. in lakewood, thieves made off with sledge hammers and crowbars from a home depot store. cnn s josh gamble joins us from los angeles. did they catch those home depot robbers? yeah, well, a development in that specific case, we re learning over the weekend that the beverly hills police department here near los angeles stopped a vehicle matching a description from that brazen robbery. four people were taken into custody in that vehicle. police say they also found new tools. that one brazen incident really of concern to officials because we re not just talking about stolen merchandise, stolen handbags and clothing but they stole crowbars and hammers, things that could be used in future robberies. we have seen so many at a nordstroms near los angeles. thieves took off with over $25,
smash and grab robberies in the bay and los angeles areas resulting in tens of thousands of dollars of stolen merchandise. on black friday group of suspects stormed lakewood and stole crowbars, sledge hammers before jumping into get away vehicles. take a listen to an employee s testifying account of what happened. we closed the front entrance and they put their sledge hammers up whoever got in the way they were going to hurt them and then they actually threatened a customer but he got away and they just ran out and the cops got here shortly. christina: law enforcement believe the flash mob robberies are coordinated group efforts and investigating who is organizing the crimes and beefing up patrols and say this surge in organized retail crime is a result of state referendum which downgraded property theft to a misdemeanor for stolen items with a value of $950 or
sledge hammers and crow bars, the same kind of tools used in a number of smash and grab robberies this month. professor charisse cubern is with us. thank you so much for joining us. almost every day we re getting reports of new attacks by these flash mob thieves. what we re seeing, it seems like scenes from some sort of dystopian movie. what s behind all of this? we re still trying to get a handle on exactly what s going on with these types of crimes. on the one hand, the places that they re occurring, cities like los angeles and san francisco, at least in california, are places that have seen lots of retail thefts over the years, and in fact, rank in the top ten. on the other hand, as you mentioned, they re quite distinct. they re very unique. these are involving many, many individuals that are highly organized, using social media in many cases to get that
city wide tactical alert after the latest theft. christina coleman live in los angeles following all of it. hi, christina. christina: hi, griff, a lot to follow. heartbreaking update to one of those crimes, oakland pd has confirmed the security guard who was shot protecting a news crew during attempted robbery on wednesday has died. the security firm that he worked for has identified him as kevin nachida, former police officer, investigators are trying to track down the suspect who shot nashida, his death comes after week of smash and grab robberies in multiple locations in california up and down the states. just yesterday on black friday while holiday shoppers were out in full force, group of 15 to 20 suspects stormed a home depot store in lakewood and stole crowbars, sledge hammers before jumping in a bunch of get away vehicles. some now fear what those thieves might plan on doing with those