Just hours after California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a landmark package of bills aimed at curbing retail theft, a group of brazen thieves ransacked three 7-Eleven stores in Los Angeles in less than 20 minutes. The incident, which occurred on Friday evening, highlights the persistent challenge of smash-and-grab robberies that continue to plague the Golden State despite new legislative efforts.
The coordinated thefts began shortly after 8 p.m. when a group of approximately 20 to 30 individuals, riding bicycles, targeted a 7-Eleven store located at 7040 West Sunset Boulevard. According to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the group smashed a window and looted the store, stealing food and drink items. The rampage didn't stop there. Within minutes, the same group hit a second 7-Eleven near Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, where an employee was reportedly assaulted during the chaos.
The third and final attack took place at a 7-Eleven on Santa Monica Boulevard around 8:22 p.m., where the thieves broke another window and made off with over $2,000 worth of merchandise, including a box of chargers. The swift and coordinated nature of these crimes has left the LAPD scrambling for answers, with investigators suspecting that the same group may have been responsible for similar incidents at other 7-Eleven locations the previous week.
The timing of these brazen thefts is particularly significant, as they occurred just hours after Governor Newsom signed a comprehensive set of bills aimed at tackling the very issue of retail crime. The bipartisan package, described by Newsom as "the most significant legislation to address property crime in modern California history," seeks to impose tougher penalties on repeat offenders, smash-and-grab thieves, and those involved in large-scale reselling operations.
"This is the real deal," Newsom declared on Friday as he signed the legislation. The new laws permit the aggregation of stolen goods across multiple victims and counties to meet the threshold for felony grand theft, which in California is defined as the theft of items valued over $950. Newsom emphasized that the laws are designed to make communities safer and provide law enforcement with the necessary tools to arrest and prosecute criminals effectively.
However, Friday night's crime spree raises questions about the immediate impact of the new laws. The 7-Eleven thefts are the latest in a series of smash-and-grab incidents that have drawn national attention to California's growing problem with retail theft. The state has seen a sharp increase in such crimes in recent years, with shoplifting rising by 22% and commercial burglary and robbery up by 16% and 13%, respectively, between 2019 and 2022, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
One store manager, speaking to local media, expressed frustration and concern, noting that the teens captured on video during the Friday night thefts appeared to be the same group that struck other 7-Eleven stores in the area the previous week. The LAPD has yet to comment on the possible connections between these incidents.
The new legislation also addresses cargo theft and closes a legal loophole to make it easier to prosecute auto thefts, regardless of whether the vehicle was locked. It requires online marketplaces, such as eBay, to collect bank account and tax identification numbers from high-volume sellers, a measure aimed at cracking down on the resale of stolen goods.
Despite the bipartisan support for these measures, some progressive Democrats expressed reservations, arguing that parts of the legislation might be too punitive, particularly for low-income individuals and those struggling with substance abuse. These concerns mirror the ongoing debate over Proposition 36, a ballot measure that seeks to impose harsher sentences for repeat shoplifters and drug offenders, which Newsom and state Democrats have unsuccessfully tried to keep off the November ballot.
