Beverly Hills found itself the target of an apparently organized mass burglary attempt on Nov. 21, but with unexpected results. Despite the use of a sledgehammer to break through windows at Louis Vuitton and Saks Fifth Avenue, the suspects were unable to breach the bullet-proof glass and fled the city empty handed. The incident comes after smash-and-grab burglaries in the Bay Area and one day before a mass burglary at The Grove in Los Angeles.
Around 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 21, the Beverly Hills Police Department responded to two attempted burglaries.
“Multiple suspects traveling in several vehicles descended on the locations and used a sledgehammer to try to break through front windows. No entry was made in both cases,” Lt. Giovani Trejo said in a statement to the Courier. “Beverly Hills Police units supported by armed private security have increased patrol in the area.”
Trejo said that BHPD detectives are investigating the incidents. They have not yet identified suspects and have not made connections to other incidents, he said.
The Louis Vuitton store appeared to have replaced the damaged glass by the afternoon.
That same day at 10:40 p.m., an unknown number of suspects broke through windows at the Nordstrom at The Grove, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
“The suspects fled in an SUV and a pursuit was initiated by Wilshire officers in the area,” Officer Drake Madison told the Courier. “The pursuit ultimately ended in South LA and a perimeter was set. Three suspects were taken into custody.”
A sledgehammer was found near the Nordstrom, according to video of the crime scene shared on social media by freelance journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel. Madison did not comment on possible connections between the incident and other similar crimes.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore spoke out against the crimes to the Los Angeles Police Commission, a civilian oversight body for LAPD. “We are worried that this kind of conduct will be seen as allowable, and nothing can be further from the truth,” he said.
San Francisco saw a spate of burglaries of high-end retailers on Nov. 19 starting at 8 p.m., when 40 people broke into a Louis Vuitton store in the city’s tony Union Square shopping area.
Other stores that were burglarized that night include Burberry and Bloomingdale’s in the Westfield mall and Yves Saint Laurent on Geary Street. According to San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott, police stopped attempted thefts at Fendi and Hermès stores. Police arrested eight suspects and Scott expressed confidence at a press conference that more arrests would be made.
On Nov. 20, around 80 people descended on a Nordstrom store in Walnut Creek, a city located in the East Bay of the Bay Area. Many of the group escaped with merchandise, assaulting two employees in the process. Police arrested three suspects, one of whom was in possession of a firearm.
