It’s would be beyond brazen — if it hadn’t already happened before.
According to a news release from the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department, Dec. 17 robbery at the Chanel store in the upscale DCCityCenter was carried out by a gang armed with a fire extinguisher.
The release stated that “at approximately 5:30 p.m., five suspects entered a retail store” and set off the fire extinguisher as a distraction.
“One of the suspects discharged a fire extinguisher multiple times with its contents striking a Special Police Officer while the other suspects took merchandise from the store,” the release stated.
“The suspects then fled the scene” in a white sedan.
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According to Fox News, the gang made off with roughly $250,000 worth of merchandise from the luxury retailer.
Gang of thieves hit Chanel store in Washington DC, set off fire extinguisher, and proceed to steal $250,000 worth of merchandise. pic.twitter.com/OUVWJb984f
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) December 21, 2023
A security officer fired a shot at the thieves as they were leaving, WRC-TV reported.
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“That round did not take effect. At this time, we do not have any property damage, nor do we have any reported injuries,” MPD Commander Tatjana Savoy told the station.
“We have our internal affairs on scene and they’re combing through, of course, interviews and video footage.”
And — would you believe it? — this isn’t the first time that the same store has been robbed in the same way.
“The same Chanel was robbed back in February,” WRC reported.
“A flash mob in that incident also set off a fire extinguisher to create a distraction.”
The case remains “an ongoing investigation,” according to WTTG-TV.
One normally associates smash-and-grab robberies with California, which — thanks to lax law enforcement and generous laws regarding theft of any sort — has become the state synonymous with the act.
San Francisco Chinatown camera shop targeted in a smash & grab along Grant Avenue.
The shop owner was pepper-sprayed and an employee at the store next-door was hit with a metal rod. Several cameras taken.
(1/3) #SanFrancisco pic.twitter.com/8I8eFvvLED— Dion Lim (@DionLimTV) March 21, 2022
California Nordstrom ransacked in huge ‘flash mob’ smash-and-grab, $60K to $100K in goods taken: policehttps://t.co/fnd9V4allW
This is what happens when
you don’t enforce the law weak DA’s. How long before Nordstrom leaves Los Angeles, like they did in San Francisco?— Sierra1bushcraft (@coapann) August 14, 2023
Chicago, too, is another popular scene for the crime:
Another video-Looters hit @LouisVuitton and other Union Square luxury stores in wild rampage#LouisVuitton stores in #Chicago and #SanFrancisco hit in smash-and-grab thefts.
More than a dozen people involved in both cases, with mulitple arrests already made.#Robbery #looting pic.twitter.com/QhYa7RbZED
— Chaudhary Parvez Ahmed (@ChParvezAhmed) November 21, 2021
Didn’t know if I should post this or not. Friend sent me from the smash and grab robbery downtown near Loyola Water Tower yesterday in Chicago. Two guys broke through glass in broad daylight and stole 2 watches worth over a million dollars each. pic.twitter.com/SeHXd3Rx8t
— Dante (@DanteTheDon) December 13, 2021
In 2021, then-Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot knew where the blame for this rash of robberies lay: With the stores, of course.
“I’m disappointed that [retailers] are not doing more to take safety and make it a priority,” she said.
“For example, we still have retailers that won’t institute plans like having security officers in their stores. Making sure that they’ve got cameras that are actually operational.”
Blaming the thieves — and only the thieves — apparently wasn’t an option.
Chicagoans rightly had enough of Lightfoot for a variety of reasons — including sky-high crime rates — and voted her out in 2023. Not that current Mayor Brandon Johnson is much better, but at least they had the common sense to throw her out.
As for Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser has been mayor since 2015 and things don’t seem to be improving, at least as of late. According to the Washington Business Journal, violent and property crime are up 40 percent and 25 percent year-over-year in 2023, respectively.
Now that this smash-and-grab is getting a smidgen of national attention, perhaps Bowser can pull a Lightfoot and blame a lack of fire extinguisher control laws for the District’s woes.
Whether that saves her from residents’ wrath, however, is anyone’s guess.
