High-end San Francisco-area retailers robbed, vandalized

High-end retailers including Yves Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton were among the stores robbed and vandalized on Friday night in the San Francisco area, prompting outrage from the city’s mayor and police chief.

A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department said that officers responded just after 8 p.m. “to possible looting and vandalism to retail establishments in Union Square.”

Merchandise worth thousands of dollars was retrieved by police after stores including Jins Eyewear, Bloomingdale’s and Burberry were robbed, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. 

At 8:10 pm @SFPD responded to possible looting and vandalism to retail establishments in Union Square. Multiple suspects arrested. Addtl @SFPD responding to area to address criminal acts.Anyone with info is asked to contact SFPD at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411

— Officer Rueca (@OfficerRueca) November 20, 2021

San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott said that Hermes and Fendi stores were also damaged, but officers were able to intervene during the thefts. He said that eight people, all young adults, were arrested.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that this was not unplanned. Their plan was to overwhelm us. Their plan was hoping that we wouldn’t be here but we were,” Scott said during a news conference on Saturday.

“The message here today is if you come to our city to commit those level of crimes, or to come and vandalize or to harm individuals, you will be held accountable,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) added. 

Meanwhile in Walnut Creek, Calif., roughly 25 miles east of San Francisco, police said that three people had been arrested and one firearm had been recovered following a theft in a Nordstrom store, ABC7 News reported.

Walnut Creek police said that they first received reports of the incident before 9 p.m. local time and that 80 people were involved in the incident. 

“We probably saw 50 to 80 people in ski masks crowbars a bunch of weapons. They were looting the Nordstrom’s right here. And I thought they were going to start beating cars. I had to start locking doors lock the front door lock the back door,” Brett Barrette, the manager of a PF Chang restaurant, told the San Francisco TV station.