Philadelphians looted stores on Tuesday night following the dismissal of charges on a police officer in a case regarding the shooting of Eddie Irizarry.
The looting primarily took place in the downtown Center City area, with the crowd at one point swelling to 100 participants. According to interim Police Commissioner John Stanford, the looting did not have to do with the verdict and the looters were not protestors.
“What we had tonight was a bunch of criminal opportunists take advantage of a situation and make an attempt to destroy our city,” Stanford said in a press statement. “It’s not going to be tolerated.”
“It’s disgusting. We made arrests & we’re gonna continue to make arrests. We’re gonna press on & continue until we have all those folks in custody.” @PhillyPolice Interim Commissioner @PPDJohnStanford vowing to arrest every looter,as detectives look at videos. pic.twitter.com/iYvTv6yoC9
— Steve Keeley (@KeeleyFox29) September 27, 2023
Video footage on social media, livestreamed by smalltime Instagram influencer DayJia, showed scenes of hooded youths breaking store windows and walking out with goods. One clip sees dozens breaking into a liquor store and coming out with garbage bags full of booze.
BREAKING: Instagram influencer DayJia livestreams herself looting stores in Philadelphia pic.twitter.com/Ou7KUg2d3D
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) September 27, 2023
In another, looters took out handfuls of iPhones before realizing the phones were locked and were tracking them, at which point they began to smash them on the ground.
What is wrong with people?
In Philadelphia last night, a bunch of people break into an Apple Store and take all of the iPhone 15s.
With sirens blaring, they then run out only to realize that all of the iPhones have been disabled and they may be being tracked.
So what do they… pic.twitter.com/BxQdI0BhZF
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) September 27, 2023
A Lululemon store and a Foot Locker was also among the stores pillaged, according to the police. An officer was assaulted during one of the break-ins. DayJia and her compatriots’ rampage was put to an end when they were pulled over and arrested.
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A protest over the verdict did occur at City Hall around 7:30 PM. Police got a call about looting going on in the City Center area around 8 PM. About 20 arrests had been made as of Tuesday night, with two firearms seized.
Philadelphia Municipal Judge Wendy Pew dismissed all charges citing lack of evidence on Philadelphia officer Mark Dial, who had been accused of murdering 27-year-old Irizarry, at a traffic stop in August.
The lootings occurred on the same day that retail giant Target announced it was closing nine stores across four states due to crime rates. Of the stores closed, one was in East Harlem neighborhood of New York City and another was in the San Francisco Bay Area, two cities that have seen rising crime rates after getting new progressive district attorneys.
Likewise, convenience store corporation CVS announced it was closing a whopping 900 stores by the end of 2024, ten percent of all its locations, due to rampant theft. It said it is planning to move its sales online to avoid crime. CVS and other retailers have also begun locking up their store items to prevent them from being stolen ever since the 2020 George Floyd riots.
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