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Shocking video footage shows two masked thieves using sledgehammers to smash up a Connecticut jewelry store in a brazen smash-and-grab raid. Video released by Westport police starts with quiet scenes in Lux, Bond, and Green on Main Street at about 3:10 p.m. Thursday, with only a few people in one room in the store. Suddenly, the two crooks race into another part of the store, dressed completely in dark clothing — including hoods and covered faces — apart from orange gloves.

California has launched an offensive against the “brazen” criminals causing chaos in the state’s retail sector — injecting $267,118,293 into local law enforcement agencies to help them crack down on smash-and-grab robberies. The funding will be split between 55 local law enforcement agencies across the state — with 41 sheriffs’ and police departments, along with one probation department, being awarded up to $23,663,194 each. Thirteen district attorney offices will also each receive up to $2,050,000 to prevent and investigate organized retail crime and arrest and prosecute more suspects. “Enough with these brazen smash-and-grabs,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said when announcing...

Dozens of rampaging youths trashed a Wawa convenience store in northeast Philadelphia Saturday night — hurling food and drinks at one another as one belligerent young woman twerked on a counter, video of the chaos shows. The rowdy group of about 100 young people were captured on video — shot inside the chain location at 7001 Roosevelt Blvd. — as they ransacked the shop at about 8:20 p.m. and recorded the pandemonium on their phones. An employee filming the wild scene from behind a sandwich counter in the store can be heard scolding the vandals. “You’re all stupid,” he said...

A classic smash-and-grab heist in the Bronx netted a clutch of thieves more $2.15 million in “high end diamond jewelry” during a wild, caught-on-video robbery on Friday, police said.

The mass looting phenomenon reached the wealthy celebrity haven of Malibu, California, last week, when a gang looted nearly half a million dollars worth of luxury goods from the Malibu Lumberyard shopping center in broad daylight. The Malibu Times reported: A crew of six Black male and female suspects, wearing masks and hoodies entered the luxury goods store Maxfield on Tuesday July 12 at 2 p.m. The robbers pushed past the store’s security guard and grabbed armloads of “high-end” designer handbags. The crew then quickly raced out of the store and across Cross Creek Road and were seen getting into...

Shocking surveillance footage shows California jewelry store workers fighting back after several smash-and-grabber robbers rush into the shop and attempt to make off with valuable gems. FOX 5 San Diego obtained the video showing at least four individuals wearing hooded sweatshirts run into Princess Bride Diamonds, located in Bella Terra mall in Huntington Beach. One of the suspects uses a hammer to smash open a glass display case, as others rush in carrying backpacks. But workers at the store quickly jumped into action, running toward the would-be thieves. The employees, including a brother and sister who work for their father...

A group of smash and grab robbers raided a Virginia eyeglass store and stole more than $20,000 of products. This week, Fairfax County released in-store surveillance footage of four men raiding a MyEyeDr. store near Richmond Highway in Alexandria at about 6.30pm on April 19. The suspects are all black men and are believed to be between the ages of 17 and 23. A fifth suspect, who was the group's getaway driver, is also wanted by police. The men are believed to have fled in an older-model black Toyota Camry with tinted windows and black hubcaps. Detectives are following up...

A group of smash and grab robbers targeted a Virginia eyeglass store outside of Washington, D.C., stealing more than $20,000 in merchandise. "Detectives are following up on leads and are aware of similar incidents throughout the National Capital Region," Capt. Frederick Chambers, Commander of the Criminal Investigations Division of the Fairfax County Police Department, said in a press release on the matter Thursday. Police released video footage of the scene showing four Black males between the ages of 17 to 23 wearing gloves, masks, and hoods or hats while stealing from a MyEyeDr. store in Alexandria.

Are they still calling this “consumer reparations”? https://t.co/bGfpI0JW9a— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) May 7, 2022New video of the latest smash and grab at an eye glasses store. This one at the MrEyeDr in Alexandria. Employees say they were after the high-end brands - $20,000 lost in products and damage. @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/o2Jx4hR1qA— Casey Nolen (@CaseyNolen) May 6, 2022

CALIFORNIA (Santa Clara DA) – Five men have been charged with a series of smash and grab robberies, part of a crime wave that terrorized the Bay Area during the holidays. The men, armed with construction hammers, would invade stores en masse. Charged with felonies are Michael Earl, 18, of Oakland, Andrew Manuel Maravillalopez, 19, of Hayward, Noah G Tekle, 19, of San Leandro, Charles Evans, 18, of San Leandro, and Maurice James Sweet, 19, of Pittsburg. Earl, Maravillalopez, Tekle, and Evans were arraigned on April 15 with bail set at $250,000. Maurice James Sweet, 19, is on for arraignment...

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot allegedly called the owner of a high-end exotic car dealership an "idiot" during a heated meeting after the store was targeted in an armed smash-and-grab robbery, according to a report. Lightfoot allegedly "got into a fight and walked out" of Gold Coast Exotic Motor Cars during a meeting with store owner Joe Perillo, according to sources who spoke to CWB Chicago. One of the sources told the outlet the mayor called Perillo an "idiot" as she left the showroom, though Perillo told Fox News he did not hear her call him that. "I’m not aware that...

This has apparently reached the point where a straw has broken the camel’s back for one California Democrat. Assemblyman Rudy Salas has thrown in the towel and recognized that this crime wave can’t be allowed to continue. With that in mind, Salas introduced a new bill that would reverse proposition 47 and reset the threshold of misdemeanor theft to its previous level of $400. But will the rest of his party back him up? A Democratic California lawmaker introduced a bill that would reverse the state’s Proposition 47, which has been blamed for the rampant shoplifting and smash-and-grab crimes plaguing...

Four men were arrested after allegedly attempting a New Year’s Eve smash-and-grab robbery at a jewelry store in Upland, California, a suburb of Los Angeles in San Bernardino County. The thugs’ attempted crime was thwarted because the shop owner wielded his legal firearm, the Upland Police Department said on Instagram. “On 12/30/21, at about 2:37 p.m., four suspects entered a jewelry store on the 300 block of S. Mountain Ave in an attempt smash-and-grab robbery,” police said. The thugs sprayed bear spray on store employees during the brazen heist, but no one was seriously injured. “The suspects deployed bear spray...

An ULTA Beauty on Magic Mountain Parkway was the victim of three thefts in a single day, resulting in Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies being called to the scene each time. The first theft occurred Tuesday evening and deputies were called to the business, located on the 24200 block of Magic Mountain Parkway, at approximately 7:40 p.m. regarding a theft. “The suspects loaded approximately over $400 worth of merchandise in a shopping cart and walked out ... ...The second theft occurred Wednesday afternoon at approximately 4 p.m., with the alleged suspect(s) taking a few hundred dollars’ worth of perfume....

The Praetorian Guard was the unit of the imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards – and spies – for Roman emperors. That was back then. Now, it would be the federal agents who address Joe Biden's concerns. That is according to constitutional expert Jonathan Turley, who has written about the president's access to the federal system under the headline, "Biden's Praetorian Guard? The Ashley Biden investigation raises new questions over the use of the FBI." The heart of the controversy is a diary belonging to Ashley Biden, the president's daughter, that she apparently abandoned. Turley explained, "With smash...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday proposed spending more than $300 million to help law enforcement and small businesses address a recent rash of high-profile smash and grab thefts. Under the three-year plan, the money would finance a crackdown on organized crime rings, which are believed to be carrying out the crimes.... ...Local law enforcement agencies would receive $255 million over the next three years to place more officers in stores to deter theft and another $30 million would go to district attorneys ...

Mayor London Breed launched an emergency police intervention in San Francisco’s crime-ridden Tenderloin neighborhood Tuesday, targeting a pipeline of illegal drugs that has been fueling a surge in gun violence and deadly fentanyl overdoses. Breed’s anger and frustration over the crime surge in the city were on full display at her noon news conference.

Another brazen smash-and-grab was caught on camera at a luxury car showroom in crime-stricken Chicago in which the suspects ran out with watches worth millions. Two men came into Gold Coast Auto Gallery on Saturday and conducted the robbery in less than 20 seconds. One stood by the door with a gun while the other smashed a display case with a hammer, stealing at least eight luxury watches.

My daughter has a nice little house in a safe neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. Until recently she never really had to worry about crime or her personal safety. But now suburban places like hers in Northern California and Southern California are being hit by a crime wave that has never hit them before. As you’ve seen on national TV, “smash-and-grab” gangs are hitting shopping malls like the one near her – the same one I often take my granddaughters to. And now there are even young thugs who’ll follow you home from the mall and break into your...

Four men used hammers to smash through the front door and steal merchandise, the exact amount of which is still being determined by store management