A mob in southern California rammed a car into a bakery after a street takeover early Tuesday and proceeded to loot the business, surveillance video footage showed.
The mob used a Kia Soul as a battering ram to breach the Compton bakery’s entrance and ransack the place, video showed. The incident occurred around 2:45 a.m. after a street takeover that included a trash bonfire in the street and reports of gunshots, ABC7 reported.
Officers from the Compton Sheriff’s Station of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) responded to the scene, dispersing about 100 people but making no arrests, the report noted. The officers reportedly recognized the vehicle the mob had used as a battering ram, as they had unsuccessfully pursued it earlier in the day before losing sight of the vehicle and giving up the chase.
“It’s terrifying to know that we have a pre-school right across the street and there’s people doing things like this,” school employee Valerie Holguin told ABC7. “I was hoping to run into the owner just to ask to see if they need anything from us or any kind of support. We’re here for them.” (RELATED: Video Shows Looters With Axes And Hammers Ransack Local Pharmacy)
A bakery gets looted after a street takeover in Compton this morning. pic.twitter.com/PN9vnU3Z1R
— Los Angeles Scanner (@LosAngeles_Scan) January 2, 2024
“It’s kind of normal for us now, which is kind of sad to say,” another witness told ABC7. “At first, it wasn’t. At first, I was calling the cops every two minutes, like, ‘Are you guys coming?’ but now, it’s like, I’m kind of like desensitized to it because it happens so often, but this was kind of like, the last straw. I’m not too sure what to do about it.” The witness reportedly said street takeovers happen in the area two to three times a month.
The store owner told CBS Los Angeles he lost all his earnings from the busy New Year’s Eve weekend — which he estimated at $20,000 — to the looters.
The police seized the car, which was left at the scene, and said they planned to contact the registered owner to investigate whether it was stolen, CBS Los Angeles reported.