A flash mob of roughly 70 looters ransacked a California gas station convenience store, which cost approximately $100,000 in losses. The owner said it took Oakland police about nine hours to respond to the looting.
Around 4:30 a.m. on Friday, a flash mob looted the 76 Gas Station & Mini Market near the San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.
The owner, Sam Mardaie, said there were two employees working at the time and the looting lasted around 40 minutes. The business was only offering window service at the time of the pillaging. However, the looters broke into the market through the front door.
“Shelves were ripped apart, all the grocery items were torn or stepped on or vandalized,” Mardaie told KTVU.
The owner released video of the flash mob ransacking his gas station convenience store. Surveillance video shows the looters going behind the counter and stealing food and products.
None of the employees were harmed in the flash mob looting.
The looters snatched approximately $25,000 in cash from the store’s register and ATM. The owner said the criminals were not able to steal the safe.
Mardaie and his family took over the business in August 2023.
“This is the hardest thing you could ever go through…especially if you’ve been put in sweat and tears day in and day out,” Mardaie said. “Building yourself for the last ten months and then you’re back to square one.”
“Things have to be fixed somehow,” Mardaie said. “The citizens of Oakland have to have some sort of security.”
The owner said he knew the area was known for crime, but added: “I did not know it is this terrible.”
The 76 gas station is located in the same area of Oakland where an In-N-Out fast food restaurant closed in March because of out-of-control crime. The location was the Southern California-based burger chain’s only restaurant in Oakland.
The Oakland Police Department told KTVU that officers were responding to a sideshow near the airport that had more than 100 vehicles at the scene. The department said officers responded to the gas station robbery about 90 minutes after receiving a call. However, there were no suspects at the 76 gas station. Police marked the crime as a Priority 2, which means that the incident can be reported online. However, police upgraded the robbery to a Priority 1 crime after seeing the surveillance video.
No arrests were made in relation to the flash mob looting.
District 7 City Councilmember Treva Reid, who represents the area where the crime occurred, said she continues to “advocate and work to secure increased public safety resources and response.” Reid urged Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao to prioritize her district’s demands.
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