Los Angeles, Aug 20 : A video of an “flash mob” of looters ransacking a 7-Eleven store in Los Angeles went viral which prompted the police of the city to seek the help of the public to identify those who were involved in the incident.The video released by the police revealed the chaos in the store at the beginning of the week, when a large crowd, including dozens of people were rushing in the 7-Eleven store and began buying items from the shelves, including cigarettes, snacks, drinks and lottery tickets as reported by Xinhua news agency.
Many people are observed snooping over the counter, and they are grabbing items there , too.
A store clerk who was on his own was standing by while police claimed he was afraid for his own life.
The cash registers also were destroyed, however it isn’t clear if money was stolen.
The majority of the US news outlets reported on the news and the video taken by a camera in the store on Friday.
Over 1.7 million people on Twitter watched the original post via the Los Angeles Police Department’s (LAPD) official account.
The LAPD stated in an announcement on Friday, that the incident happened on Monday following an unplanned street takeover.
A group of motorists were able to block flow with their vehicles in all directions in order to create an “pit” in the middle of the intersection.
“The crowd then became a “flash mob’ of looters,” the LAPD added, noting that the phrase “flash mob” was first used to describe a large-scale public gathering in which people engage in an unorthodox or seemingly random act , and then disperse through the use of the social media or the internet.
“In the most recent instances flash mobs have evolved from spontaneous fun events to criminally opportunistic,” it noted.
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