Astonishing moment shoplifter struts behind counter of Bay Area Walgreens, fills huge bag full with stolen goods, then hurls BANANAS at fellow shopper who stood up to him
- Shoplifter walked into a Walgreens in Richmond, California, on Tuesday and ransacked shelves behind the counter
- Bandit was filmed calmly filling a plastic bag with loot, including batteries, COVID tests and electronics
- When a shopper tried to intervene, thief grabbed a bunch of bananas and hurled it at the man, then lobbed Chips Ahoy! packets at him
- Walgreens and CVS have been closing stores in Bay Area amid retail theft epidemic
A Bay Area shoplifter was filmed hurling bananas, cookies and candy at a shopper who stood up to him for brazenly strutting behind a Walgreens counter to fill a bag with booty.
The heist took place on Tuesday at a Walgreens in Richmond – a city 17 miles north of San Francisco. The entire Bay Area has been hit hard by a wave of property crimes and smash-and-grab robberies since the start of the pandemic, forcing multiple branches of Walgreens to close in a bid to stem their theft-related losses.
Cellphone video captured by professional photographer Nicholas Stennet shows a man dressed in all black removing items from shelves behind the counter of the Richmond drug store with utter disregard for two store workers standing right next to him.
One of the employees is on the phone with a 911 dispatcher, reporting a robbery in progress.
At the beginning of the clip, the brazen shoplifter can be seen behind the counter stuffing some of the Walgreens’ most valuable items into a huge bag, while helpless staff look on
Moments later, he was confronted by a male shopper, pictured left, but didn’t take kindly to the check on his behavior…
‘We have this person that is… taking everything from the counter,’ the woman says. ‘Can you send the cops? Can you send them right away, please?’
The looter, meanwhile, calmly moves to a different section of the counter and continues to fill a plastic bag with a variety of goods, including COVID tests, batteries and electronics, according to one eyewitness.
After ransacking the shelves to his heart’s content, the criminal emerges from behind the counter and makes it for the exit.
When a bystander makes an attempt to stand up to him, the audacious bandit grabs a bunch of bananas from a basket and forcefully hurls them at the man, who picks up some of the fruit and lobs them back at the attacker.
…and ended up hurling bananas at the would-be Good Samaritan, who then responded in kind
The shoplifter was evidently angered by the have-a-go hero’s decision to stand up to him, and returned to hurl nuts and candy at the unfortunate man
Visibly angered by such a hostile reception, the shoplifter grabs packets of Chips Ahoy! from a nearby shelf and pelts the Good Samaritan with them, before storming out of he store and triggering the alarm on his way out.
Drug store chains like Walgreens and CVS have become attractive and easy targets for shoplifters, leading to numerous store closures in the Bay Area. In the area’s largest city, San Francisco, low-level offenses, such as retail thefts, have been effectively de-criminalized under the leadership of progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin.
Roving gangs of criminals have been carrying out brazen smash-and-grab robberies, targeting high-end stores like Louis Vuitton and Burberry, but also national chains like Walgreens and CVS.
Walgreens said last year that retail theft in San Francisco was five times the chain average and security costs were 46 times the chain average, reported San Francisco Chronicle.
California Gov Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has vowed to crack down on gangs of retail thieves, despite a controversial 2014 law – Proposition 47 – that barred prosecutors from charging suspected shoplifters accused of stealing less than $950 worth of merchandise with felonies.
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