A group of eight masked thieves brought a wagon-style cart to a San Francisco Walgreens before rushing the store to steal items earlier this week. But police say they were waiting for them and arrested six of the suspects.
The group began filling bags and the wagon with merchandise before officers conducting an organized retail theft operation swooped in on them at around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Geneva Avenue store, police said.
Officers arrested a 16-year-old boy, 18-year-old man, 20-year-old man, 24-year-old man, 34-year-old woman and 54-year-old man.
'You'd Better Watch Over Your Shoulders'
"Eight people run in with ski masks and a wagon and they grab anything they can get their arms around," SFPD Chief Bill Scott said Friday at a press conference.
Scott issued a warning to the two suspects, who remain at large.
"The other two: you'd better watch over your shoulders, 'cause we're coming for you," Scott warned.
In September, prosecutors charged a San Francisco woman with participating in a series of retail thefts from three Walgreens locations that resulted in approximately $34,000 in stolen merchandise.
Organized retail thefts in San Francisco have been front of mind for the police department which launched so-called "blitz operations" to combat the rampant crime in early October.
Five Walgreens stores closed in San Francisco in 2021 and two in Downtown shuttered in February 2022. Walgreens currently operates about 40 stores in San Francisco.