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A Los Angeles Rite Aid worker was killed Wednesday while trying to stop a shoplifter from leaving the store, police said, amid a series of brazen retail thefts have gone viral in recent months across the country.
The employee, identified by the Los Angeles Police Department as a man in his twenties, confronted the shooter and another suspect around 8:45 p.m. at a Rite Aid location in the Glassell Park neighborhood.
The suspects were attempting to exit the store with items stolen at the time and one of them opened fire, the LAPD told Fox News.
The employee died at the scene and the suspects fled on foot, police said. No arrests were made. The LAPD did not have a description of the suspects on Friday. A police spokesperson was unsure whether the store had a security guard on Wednesday night.
Calls to the store’s location went unanswered and Fox News contacted Rite Aid’s corporate headquarters but received no response.
The deadly attack comes amid a series of brazen retail thefts across the country that have left retailers, especially drugstores and drugstores, on edge.
San Francisco officials said this week that thefts were down despite images of daytime flights. In one video, a suspect is seen filling a trash bag full of items inside a Walgreens as it is being taped by customers and store staff. The suspected thief, identified by police as Jean Lugo-Romero, 40, fled on a bicycle he was driving inside the store and was eventually arrested.
In another heist filmed in a Nieman Marcus in Union Square, 10 people entered, snatched designer handbags and rushed to waiting cars.
“These videos are not only going viral in San Francisco, they are going viral all over the world,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed told reporters at a press briefing to announce the mid-level crime figures. year earlier this week. “But what doesn’t go viral… is the fact that in almost every case our police department has arrested many people in these particular crimes.”
A CVS official previously told Fox News it has closed at least two stores in the city, saying 85% of its losses in San Francisco were the result of “professional crime.”
In December, the National Retail Federation (NRF) declared Los Angeles the number one spot for organized retail crime, followed by Chicago and Miami. San Francisco placed fifth.
Employees at CVS and Walgreens in San Francisco are trained to be vigilant in the event of retail theft, but are warned not to confront suspected shoplifters. Security guards in chain stores have been attacked and some stores have chosen to hire police officers after hours.
Retailers cited several reasons for the increase in organized theft in retail, including lax law enforcement guidelines and changes in shoplifting penalties.
“Retailers are investing millions to fight these crimes, but they need more help from law enforcement and most importantly, they need tougher laws that recognize the difference between petty theft. for-profit display and professional crime, ”Mark Mathews, NRF vice president for research. Development and analysis of the industry, said last year.
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