'Flash mob' robs store, police say
'Flash mob' robs store, police say_ This flash mob is practicing thievery in numbers.
A group of 50 people were caught on tape as they flooded into a 7-Eleven in Silver Spring, Md., this past weekend and casually pilfered from the shelves as if they didn’t have a care in the world.
The group, comprised mostly of teens and young adults, walked into the convenience store and stole various snacks and drinks just after 11 p.m. on Saturday, according to Montgomery County Police Department officials investigating the incident.
Surveillance video posted on YouTube by the department shows the suspects walking up and down the aisles of the convenience store and grabbing snacks, then placing the food in their pockets.
When cops arrived at the scene, the flash mob scattered, running from the store. Six stragglers were found later with items that they could not prove they paid for, according to police.
Investigators believe that the large group had come from a birthday party in the area.
A similar incident happened in August at another 7-Eleven in nearby Germantown, where 30 youths walked into the store late at night and plucked items off the shelves as if they were shopping. Some were even savvy enough to cover their faces with their shirts to protect their identities from cameras. No arrests were made in the incident.
Officials in Montgomery County are now considering putting a teen curfew in place as well as creating legislation on loitering.
The city of Philadelphia instituted a curfew this past August after a spate of violence involving teen flash mobs.
Police departments in several U.S. cities have been investigating flash mob incidents for the past several months -- large groups of youths suddenly appear, as if out of thin air, to commit assaults, robberies and other crimes, according to an earlier report by FoxNews.com
Cops in Montgomery County are asking the public for any information they may have about Saturday's incident.
They are urged to call the local authorities at 301-565-5835.
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