Charlotte NC April 2 2020
13 malls, 7 jewelry stores, several gun stores, general stores, and an assortment of other boarded up and shuttered businesses have all been burglarized during the past several weeks since they were ordered to close their doors due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
Police across the country have also reported a sudden surge in robberies, brazen shoplifting and shootings.
Mall security officers spotted a group of four men breaking glass doors on the south side of the Valley mall. As security called police, the men broke store windows scooping up merchandise and doing more than $20,000 of damage. They fled before police could arrive.
In Madison Wisconsin at the West Towne Mall early Wednesday morning police arrived for reports of a burglary.
An audible alarm was sounded in the area of JC Penney, according to a release by the Madison Police Department. Police said someone tried to enter the mall through a roof hatch.
Several teens were spotted running from the area as the first officer arrived on scene, the release said. A 17-year-old was arrested and tentatively charged with attempted burglary.
This incident comes nearly three weeks after two teenagers tried to steal a safe from a West Towne Mall kiosk.
It also happened hours after both East and West Towne Malls were temporarily shut down in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Police said that the mall normally has security on duty.
Security officers at an outlet mall near Atlanta Sunday also interrupted a burglary to a store and chased the men on foot but they fled. Police using dogs and a helicopter were able to locate one person but believe that others escaped in a vehicle parked nearby.
Cops across the United States are struggling to maintain law and order as desperate looters and defiant partiers continue to ignore shelter-in-place orders given by their local governments.
Larger police departments like New York City and Los Angeles have seen hundreds of their officers test positive for the virus while smaller departments have had forty-to sixty percent of their department quarantined adding safety concerns for on-duty officers while providing reduced services to their communities.
Police in Santa Cruz, California, have arrested five who have done attempted robberies on businesses in the area. The city is currently under a stay-at-home order.
While the five were charged with burglaries, the charges have been upgraded to looting given the circumstances.
Some pharmacies and grocery stores that have been allowed to stay open have been looted, robbed and their staff assaulted.
A Kroger security officer in Kentucky was assaulted trying to stop a theft and Walmart security have reported several assaults of their personnel during theft incidents.
New York Police Department arrested a masked suspect who looted Tylenol and cash from a deli in Brooklyn.
'I am shocked, be nice to the neighbor,' Avenue H Deli owner Abdulla Musaid said to the Brooklyn Paper. 'In 20 years, something like this has never happened to me. I want to thank the police for catching the suspect.'
Private security companies say they are being called to patrol empty businesses and to stand guard at businesses that are still open.
Some stores have added armed security guards to prevent chaos and robberies.
On Thursday, an employee at an Arlington, Virginia, business has been arrested and charged after shooting a juvenile who allegedly broke into the store, police say.
Three suspects broke into the unnamed business on the 2400 block of Shirlington Road early Sunday and began stealing cash and merchandise, Arlington County Police say.
An employee, Hamzeh Abushariah, 33, of Washington, D.C., heard the break-in from a secure backroom, police said. He grabbed a gun, opened a door and fired onto the sales floor, hitting a juvenile suspect, police say.
Abushariah returned to the backroom, then came onto the sales floor again. He shot at suspects as they tried to run away, police said.
Officers received a call about 4:53 a.m. When they responded, they found the juvenile suspect outside suffering a serious but not-life-threatening injuries, police say. In Virginia, police are not allowed to release information about minors involved in crimes.
The other suspects had fled, police say.
Police say they consulted with the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office and brought charges against Abushariah including malicious wounding and reckless handling of a firearm.
Two men were arrested Friday afternoon following a theft-gone-wrong at the Target near Hilldale Mall.
Police said the incident started with a retail-theft-in-progress call with one suspect who was armed with a knife. When officers arrived at the store, they arrested 36-year-old Raymond M. Sanchez.
As police continued their investigation, officers learned Sanchez had gone to the store with 26-year-old Timothy A. Herald.
A security guard at the store told police Herald was also shoplifting and was carrying a knife under his shirt.
During the investigation, officers found the car that the two men had traveled to Target in. Sanchez insisted he bought the vehicle a few days prior, but police said it was listed as stolen out of Janesville.
Inside the stolen vehicle, police found electronics and money that had been stolen during a burglary at Sky Zone Trampoline Park earlier that day.
Police nationwide also are reporting an increase in robberies, shootings and domestic violence and believe that "Katrina" type looting and break-ins are likely to increase as the "Stay at Home" orders prevent the majority of businesses from being open.
