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The latest incident was a brazen robbery targeting the Nordstrom store at the Westfield Topanga Mall in Canoga Park in Southern California. In this case, the thieves didn't have to 'smash' in order to grab.
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The suspects raced in through an open door and grabbed expensive merchandise while customers were shopping, according to police.
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"Seeing what happened in Northern California, where we had a series of jurisdictions around the San Francisco Bay Area have an excess of 20 or 30 attempted burglaries and these flash mobs that arrived," said Michel Moore, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, "we immediately acted recognizing the impact this is having on retailers and a sense of safety on our communities."
One security guard on patrol was sprayed with some kind of chemical, but was treated by paramedics, according to investigators.
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"We're not gonna allow this to go on unaddressed," said Moore. "We're gonna aggressively pursue, identify them and bring them before the criminal justice system."