Mob of Thieves Swarms Las Vegas Convenience Store

[VMI77]

http://www.8newsnow.com/story/14575982/ ... ence-store

What would you do as owner? clerk? customer? Is there an effective way to stop this kind of crime?

[Thomas]

As a customer, take as many pictures as you can of faces and license plates.
As an owner, post the pictures saying prices are high because your friends are stealing.
A clerk, try to make sure they don't steal the more expensive items.

I'm just surprised only $600 worth of merchandise was taken.

EDIT: As a clerk, make sure you have a SA and extra magazines in case they turn violent.

[houston2458]

That was crazy. I have never see something like that. It might of been a "senior prank" gone wild. They will catch them with all the video & license plate numbers. The video said the clerk was trained to let them take it. It just results in higher insurance or prices on products.

[Texas Dan Mosby]

It might of been a "senior prank" gone wild.

This is the latest craze with todays....ahem...."urban" youth, largely made popular by said youths posting similar events conducted around the nation on sites like youtube and other "urban" specific sites. There is video of this sort from Detroit, D.C., and other locales across the nation.

As a customer, I would simply leave.
As a clerk, I would call the cops.
As an owner, I would exercise better access control after dark.

[speedsix]

...they stole it from the gypsies...back when I was a cop they'd have about 5 carloads pull up and trickle into the store...one would set up a disturbance and tie up the manager and the others would load up...in and out in 5 minutes...last time I saw it was Tom Thumb on Lomo Alto in Highland Park...about 7 pm...I saw 'em coming in and grabbed the manager and told him to get to the office and lock the safe and stay in the office till the cops got there...too late...one was coming out as he walked up to it...they got into 5 or 6 rented cars...and gone...they'd rent cars in one state..."work" their way across two or three states...dump the cars, get different ones and go again...I don't think the gypsies stole cracklins and moon pies...more like the high-end foods and anything else not glued down real well...they'd make a herd of grasshoppers look tame...

[i8godzilla]

I bet if you check their text messages it would be easy to see that this was planed. Let's hope they tack on the appropriate conspiracy charges.

[speedsix]

...gypsies were real skittish about violence...but I wouldn't let a mob of young......... kids see me taking a lot of pictures...you might be having a hard time talking when the law showed up...they don't mind getting physical...and in those numbers, might not turn out real well...

[The Annoyed Man]

What would you do as owner? clerk? customer? Is there an effective way to stop this kind of crime?

Owner/Clerk: I'd let 'em have it. I'm not going to go to guns over $600 worth of fritos and beef jerkey. As long as they didn't get physical....

Customer: either get out as fast as possible, or retreat to back corner of store where my 3-9 O'Clock is covered and hunker down and ride it out. Go to guns only if necessary.

[texanron]

What would you do as owner? clerk? customer? Is there an effective way to stop this kind of crime?

Owner/Clerk: I'd let 'em have it. I'm not going to go to guns over $600 worth of fritos and beef jerkey. As long as they didn't get physical....

Customer: either get out as fast as possible, or retreat to back corner of store where my 3-9 O'Clock is covered and hunker down and ride it out. Go to guns only if necessary.

[G.A. Heath]

I have worked in such an establishment, and what I'd do is pretty similar to what TAM would. As an employee/clerk I would have asked them to wait out side after the first few came in, when they refused I would have hit the panic button. after that I wouldn't interfere with them at all. As a customer I would simply retreat to safety then call the police and relay any useful information I could such as LP numbers, vehicle/person descriptions, ect. Regardless of what ever role I was in I would not expect officers to intervene immediately as things could get violent quickly (Think mini-riot).

[Excaliber]

Question: Did the actions of the thieves pose an imminent threat to innocent life that couldn't reasonably be protected by any means other than deadly force?

Answer: No

Tactics: Avoid / evade / escape / notify police / be good witness unless the answer to the question above changes during the incident, in which case one would reasonably adjust the response to match the threat.