Looters hit stores in Emeryville, Richmond, San Lorenzo after groups targeted Oakland night before

Looters struck stores in San Lorenzo, Emeryville and Richmond on Wednesday evening, police said, a night after armed robbers hit several cannabis businesses and other stores in Oakland.

Alameda County law enforcement officials believe members of the group out on Wednesday are the same or loosely connected to the group out in Oakland the previous night, estimated to be well over 50 young men and women doing break-ins, burglaries and robberies.

On Tuesday night, two security guards were shot outside a marijuana business and an Oakland police officer shot and killed a 20-year-old Oakland man as police responded to another attempt to rob a cannabis operation in East Oakland. Fleeing motorists left four officers injured, three of which were hospitalized.

In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Oakland Chief Susan Manheimer called the “roving caravan of robbers and looters” loosely organized and may be different groups copying what they see other groups doing.

The chief called it a “growing trend that transcends any one group or crew” but also a phenomenon occurring on nights where police are stretched thin to monitor protests. One witness on Tuesday night put the size of group attempting to raid a cannabis-cultivation site at over 100 people. OPD has arrested 25 people connected to the crime spree, she said.

“Some will take an entire commercial sector in a city,” Manehimer said. “We are on it and we will stop this.”

On Wednesday, a similar group of about 20 people traveling in a pack of cars broke into a Big 5 sporting goods store in San Lorenzo at about 9:30 p.m. Looters stole ammunition and airsoft and pellet guns. Alameda County Sheriff’s Sgt. Ray Kelly said investigators do not believe firearms were taken.

“This is the same crew (as Tuesday night). They are very bold, very reckless in the way they operate,” Sgt. Kelly said Thursday. “The community as a whole doesn’t tolerate this type of behavior. This is beyond what people will accept.”

Marijuana grows and businesses, pharmacies, and electronic, shoe and sporting good stores have been targeted. Over two nights, police have recovered at least 14 firearms connected to the roving groups.

A large group entered a CVS store in Emeryville at around 8:22 p.m., stealing pharmaceuticals and fleeing in cars once police arrived. Officers arrested one person on suspicion of robbery and gun possession. Police recovered a loaded handgun. A CVS employee suffered injuries and was taken to a hospital.

Around midnight, looters hit the Exclusive Shoe Store in Richmond on McBryde Avenue at San Pablo Avenue. An employee remotely monitoring store surveillance called police at about 12:01 a.m. When officers arrived, eight to 10 suspects were running from the store carrying boxes of shoes and fled in “numerous” cars. Contra Costa Sheriff’s deputies chased one car into San Francisco, and arrested a person found with several pairs of new shoes.

Richmond detectives later determined that approximately 100 pairs of Yeezy sneakers were stolen, along with athletic apparel and electronics. No other businesses in Richmond were targeted, police said.

San Leandro police also responded to a takeover robbery at a 7-11 convenience store on Davis Street at about 11:15 p.m. A group of four women and two men stole cash and cigarettes and fled into Oakland. Oakland police stopped the car and arrested six people, between the ages of 19 and 22, and from Richmond, Oakland, San Francisco and Daly City. Police found three pistols and an assault rifle in the vehicle.

San Leandro police had warned on election night of reports that robbers were planning to target the city’s Bayfair Mall. Officials closed the mall early and police blocked entrances to the parking lot, reporting that groups of young men and juveniles later showed up and were dispersed without incident.

Kelly said apprehending the band of robbers is currently the top priority in East Bay law enforcement.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/11/05/looters-hit-stores-in-emeryville-richmond-san-lorenzo-police-say-same-group-targeted-oakland-night-before/

North Texas Rental Home Community Residents Told To Remove All Flags: ‘It’s Just Terrible Timing’

Flags are at the center of a controversy in one Cresson rental home community, where residents being required to remove all flags, including American flags, from their properties by Sunday, Nov. 8.

Christopher Stephens is a resident who has flown his American flag at Cresson Pods since June.

That was until he said he got an email from management a week ago.

“It was a blanket statement that we received saying no flags will be allowed or tolerated on property,” Stephens said.

According to the email, some properties had too many flags, which destroyed the “uniformity of the community.”

The email stated that residents have to remove all flags, no matter their content or design by Sunday.

“It’s just terrible timing,” Stephens said. “Right now we don’t need any more confusion or lack of hope or isolation.”

Stephens, who is a veteran, flies a single American flag in his yard.

He said the rule to remove it is not in his lease.

He’s been in contact with lawyers who he said tell him he is protected by the Federal Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005.

“I read back and forth every bylaw there is that I can find. Even if it there were, I would take the same stance,” Stephens said.

With the timing of the election and Veterans Day next week, other neighbors say they are equally as frustrated, telling management they refuse to remove their American flags.

“There are veterans all the way through here, so to tell them to take down a flag that they fought for, it doesn’t work,” said resident Lonnie Colley. “We are not going to take down the American flag. We took down the political flag, but the American and Texas flag are going to stay up. They said that they would be in contact and let me know how that will go.”

When CBS 11 spoke with complex management on the phone Thursday, they said they had no statement and referred to their email.

But residents said if they are continually asked to take down their American flags, they have every intention of taking legal action.

Cresson is about 25 miles southwest of Fort Worth.

https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2020/11/05/texas-home-rental-community-residents-remove-flags/