Masked people clear out an Apple store – in front of customers and employees

by time news

“let her go”
It’s hardly bolder: Video shows masked people clearing out an Apple store – in front of customers and employees

The Apple Store robbers don’t let customers bother them

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Just pack it up – thieves in Silicon Valley just cleared out an Apple Store with this frighteningly simple strategy. A video of the fact shows the helplessness of the employees.

The store is packed when the masked men get going. They calmly start taking iPhones, iPads and Macbooks from the display tables, ripping off the cables and stuffing them in their bags. Before the eyes of the visibly disturbed customers and employees.

The brazen robbery took place last Friday, Black Friday, which is so important for the Christmas business in the USA. Two men robbed the Apple Store in Palo Alto, police confirmed to local news site Palo Alto Online. They would have dusted off products worth 35,000 euros.

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Brazen action

They acted with a frightening audacity. Even the fact that they are being filmed did not bother the two perpetrators. A clip taken by a customer later surfaced on an Instagram channel documenting the robbery. The end of the film is audibly upset, follows the robbers through the store while they just keep going. “Shall we stop them?” the filming customer asks at one point. And is told by one of the Apple Store employees to back off.

Other employees also rely on de-escalation instead of heroism. Again and again they push customers protectively out of the way of the robbers, asking them not to stand in their way. “Let them go, let them go,” shouts an employee to the overwhelmed customers.

Robbery, not theft

Although no weapons were seen, police said caution was appropriate. An employee heard one of the perpetrators threaten a group of customers with violence, reports “Palo Alto Online”. This also has an impact on the prosecution: the threat is used by the authorities to classify the act as robbery. If the perpetrators had just grabbed it, it would have been aggravated theft, a police spokesman said.

However, the officials do not seem to have a concrete lead. So far, the perpetrators are being sought with a description of their clothing and their getaway car, a red Mazda 3. Apple has not yet commented on the robbery.

No joy in the booty

In fact, the group is often the target of robberies. One of the most important reasons is the unusually open design of the stores in the USA. While customers in other chains do not have direct access to the devices, they are openly available at Apple. One of the reasons for this is probably still spoiling the fun of their prey for the current robbers: the demo devices simply no longer work outside of the Apple Store, reports “Macrumors”. As soon as you leave the WLAN, the devices simply switch off. And only show a message that you should please bring them back to the store.

Sources: Palo Alto Online, Macrumors

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