Daylight theft: Masked robbers steal $35k worth of merchandise from Apple store on Black Friday
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA: In a blatant daytime heist on Black Friday in Palo Alto, California, two masked men made off with $35,000 worth of Apple items in front of alarmed customers and store employees, according to authorities. A video captures the two individuals who appear to be unarmed, snatching many iPhones and laptops from display tables and pushing past people without being stopped or confronted in the bustling store.
According to acting police captain James Reifschneider, an Apple employee overheard one of the thieves make threats of violence against anyone who tried to stop them during the theft. The incident was reported at 4.17 pm on Friday, November 25. The two criminals are seen in the web footage of the robbery walking from the store with their faces mostly concealed after stuffing valuable items in their bags. Customers were being escorted away from the scene by store staff and others were heard being instructed to move back. In the footage, one individual can be heard asking, "Yo, should we stop them?" As the robber advanced, an Apple employee reacted by raising his hands in the air by saying, "Let him go!" Employees could be heard ordering consumers to "step back" at different points in the video.
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Police asserted that the use of violence transforms a shoplifting burglary into a robbery as nobody was hurt and no weapons were observed during the incident. Security personnel observed the robbers fleeing in a red Mazda3 hatchback as they were driving north on US Highway 101. The police said they are seeking two black males in their late teens or early 20s but have not yet made any arrests as reported by New York Post. The first suspect was dressed in a gray hoodie and blue jeans while the second was dressed in a blue hoodie and black pants. Both are seen in the footage removing devices from store displays while toting backpacks.
In 2016, criminals crashed a rental car into the store’s front and made off with thousands of dollars worth of goods. Then in 2018, the same store was robbed twice within a 24-hour period and over $100,000 worth of products were taken.
Since the pandemic started, similar burglaries have surged in California, according to Lt Jake Pinkas of the Monterey Police Department. According to Pinkas, Monterey County started to notice that the crimes were a regular issue in the fall of 2021. “You started to see the most cheeky [robberies], where they bring tools to pick up phones or laptops or drill glass,” Pinkas said to The New York Daily Paper. “It definitely seems to have started after the pandemic year 2020 and continued into 2021.” He claimed that in October of last year, almost $40,000 worth of goods were blatantly stolen from another Apple store.