Rob AriasEmeryville & West Oakland were once again the target of mass-looting under the cover of unrelated protest activity. This time, local police agencies were able to contain the efforts according to an EPD Nixle alert.
The City of Emeryville posted an alert (now archived) on their website warning of “the possibility of protests and looting activities in Emeryville this evening” and advised businesses and residents to “plan accordingly.” Some businesses heeded this warning and closed early and boarded up their windows. Shops on Broadway in Oakland had seen significant damage a few nights prior.
The last time Emeryville’s shopping centers were the targeting of organized looting it happened promptly at 7 p.m.. Wednesday’s looting happened late into the evening.
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According to the EPD, a large caravan of over 25 vehicles arrived at the Oakland Best Buy shortly after midnight. Several people exited the vehicles and tried to enter the locked business by force. They were not able to force entry inside the business and fled in vehicles to the nearby Game Stop on Hollis Street.
Numerous people once again exited the vehicles, smashed the windows, and pried open the interior barrier doors to enter the business. Once inside the business, store merchandise was stolen. The individuals ran back to the vehicles with the stolen merchandise and fled the scene as marked police units began to arrive.
One suspect was taken into custody without incident. That subject, Jose Lujan, 18 years old from Oakland was arrested for burglary and conspiracy to commit burglary. The investigation is ongoing, and investigators are currently seeking the identity of all involved.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Emeryville Police Department at 510-596-3700
Editors Note: The distinction between looting and burglary is not always clear but looting is generally associated with social unrest, protest activity or done during a state of emergency.
Something strikes me odd about this story. Somehow it was known that there was a caravan of 25 vehicles yet I doubt the E’ville Eye has the staff to put stakeouts on our key retail areas to report and catch this in action. Did the EPD know about this and tell news outlets? Seems they might have if they put out a social media warning about such activity earlier that day. The San Leandro Police even knew they were coming to Emeryville/Oakland per KTVU. Seems to me the EPD should have been on ‘high alert’ and actively patrolling the 3-4 main shopping areas in town, right? So that’s a little OT for 3-4 police officers?
Am I surprised this happened? Well, just go back to last year when the BLM riots did the exact same thing and looted the same retail shops plus the Powell St Plaza stores except for Trader Joe’s. What did EPD do? They watched. Nice! How about police who ‘Protect and Serve’ the people of the community and our businesses? We all (including businesses) pay taxes to support that ideal of police protection. Yet we get Keystone Cops who must think we can all write this off somehow.
EPD should have been way out-front on this and should have created a heavy police presence to PREVENT known crimes like this.
I thought we had better police protection since the top 10 salaries of city employees are with the police department. Raking in from $260k – $308k (pay and benefits)
What’s the line thrown out when whipping up support for paying well for public employees…something about being able to afford to live in the same community?
In fairness to our new police chief, we actually saw real police officers at East Bay Plaza that night.
We’ve also seen much more police presence around since he came into office.
Haven’t seen that in years in this town.
Police are being handcuffed by their own city councils. Recall the July 2, 2020 story on The E’ville Eye:
Members of our city council reacted in real-time via Twitter. Councilmember Bauters dismissed the looting of his city as a “distraction” and Councilmember Medina expressed empathy for those “protesting out of pain or anger.”
2020 Mayor Christian Patz mostly evaded condemning or distinguishing the looters from the protest activity when pressed in this interview by KTVU that evening. “This is a just a sign of the frustration that people are having and the challenges…” he said. In fact, Patz did not refer to the incident at “looting” in his letter to the community but instead that these businesses “experienced vandalism, break-ins and thefts.”
Councilmember Medina later took a jab at Sheriff Ahern via Twitter for apparently implementing this curfew amid her city being looted saying she would work to unseat him in 2022. “I got $$ to give any reasonably progressive candidate who will challenge ALCO Sheriff in ’22. I will host a fundraiser, help w/ endorsements + organize voter outreach. As we watch injustice erupt let’s remember we have plenty we can do here.”
Don’t you know “Looting is reparation” for something that happened 200 years ago?
An officer in Virginia was fired for donating to Kyle Rittenhouse’s defense fund. The Mayor of Chicago wants officers to ask permission to chase criminals. Antifa in Portland sucker punched an officer this week. An officer in Columbus was threatened by that coward lebron for saving the life of a girl. One of Biden’s nominees for DOJ wants to free cop killers.
This state / country is about to become even more lawless since departments are not meeting recruiting goals because officers are not being supported.