California 7-Eleven Ransacked by Mob: Videos

A store clerk was attacked and left bleeding after a huge mob stormed into a California 7-Eleven to loot it in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Merchandise and cash from the register were carried away by dozens of thieves who had targeted the site in Anaheim, close to Los Angeles. Police arrived at the store on the 550 block of South Knott Avenue, only to find that the gang had left as quickly as they arrived, according to reports. Officers are now examining videos of the incident, filmed by the robbers themselves, and shared online.

Cities across the U.S. have been struggling to deal with a spike in thefts and violence against store staff, driven by organized retail crime and a current trend for “flash mob” or “street takeover” shoplifting sprees.

The alarming phenomenon seems to be largely concentrated in California, with major retailers shuttering stores and fleeing San Francisco amid safety fears after mobs stormed businesses to thieve en masse.

Several Bay Area stores were hit by wave of smash-and-grab looting in 2021, while a coordinated gang of robbers stole up to $100,000 worth of goods within minutes at a Nordstrom in an L.A. mall last August. Police have warned there has been an uptick in deaths associated with such crimes.

The latest attack in L.A. this weekend, saw several of the thieves attack the 7-Eleven clerk as he tried in vain to protect the store and stop the gang. He suffered a bloody nose after one assault, according to local news station NBC 4.

One of the videos, shared on X (formerly Twitter) by Post Millennial journalist Andy Ngo, shows how dozens of thieves worked together to overpower the lone worker who tried to close the doors against them.

One looter threatened him with a concrete slab, and he was later pushed to the ground from behind; he screamed and clutched his chest as he tried to clamber to his feet. All around him, thieves grabbed lighters, packets of chips, and tubs of ice cream before scurrying away. More than 2.5 million people have viewed the footage, which can be viewed below.

Warning: The video contains scenes some readers may find upsetting and also some graphic language.

Ngo said more than a dozen 7-Eleven stores have been looted by flash mobs in recent months.

One store was even looted twice, with the New York Post reporting that the 7-Eleven on West Olympic Boulevard in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood was targeted on two occasions within two months. One of the incidents involved a gang of around 50 youths, aged around 12 to 15, arriving on bicycles to steal the store’s contents.

Newsweek has reached out via email to 7-Eleven seeking comment on the latest attack.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has previously come in for criticism about his handling of the flash-mob crime surge. Tiffany Justice, a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, suggested his policies were responsible and added if given the chance, Newsom “would make all of America like California.”

Buck Sexton, a political commentator, said of the Nordstrom incident: “They’re stealing luxury goods worth tens-of-thousands of dollars as a coordinated mob, with no fear of arrest. Democrats have made sure that crime does pay—handsomely—then wonder why it has gotten so out of control.”

For his part, Newsom insists he is working on fixing the problem. Last summer, he signed a bipartisan package of 10 bills designed to crack down on the smash-and-grab robberies. The move aimed to make it easier for law enforcement to target repeat shoplifters, as well as increasing the penalties for criminals running professional reselling schemes.

Newsom had previously called on California’s mayors to “step up” to tackle the mobs in their own areas, saying of the gangs: “These people need to be held to account. We need to investigate these crimes. We need to break up these crime rings. We need to make an example out of these folks.”