CBS News Chicago recently captured a looting of a footlocker on live television during a broadcast.  The incident reportedly occurred in the Bronzeville neighborhood, where at least three people walked out of the retail store carrying stacks of shoe boxes and other stolen merchandise.  The CBS Chicago News crew notified the authorities as they captured the event live on air.

Reportedly, the thieves used a stolen vehicle to ram through the entrance of the shoe store, where the suspects could be seen walking out of the store with a substantial amount of merchandise.  With no police at the scene of the crime, the suspects walked away with their shoplifted goods, and one even appeared to look back and smile at the camera.

One of the CBS Broadcasters said as the scene unfolded in front of them, “We’re told that no police are on the scene right now. And Dave, we can actually see people.”  The other anchor, Dave, chimed in, “Yeah, they’re just taking, that guy right there has four boxes that that guy’s walking out with two boxes, looking right at our cameraman.  Lou, I hope you’re safe out there. This is obviously all happening right now, unfolding at 33rd and King Drive. And someone smashed the window, you know, or she’s clearly on camera, you can identify her now. And here’s another woman she’s walking out with. I don’t know what that it is.

Reportedly, the same stolen Jeep was used in another crime that occurred just an hour earlier a couple of miles from the Footlocker.  Authorities report that the SUV had been used to bypass a security barrier at J-Bees Sportswear near 47th Street and Indiana Avenue.  “It’s crazy going on right now,” said Syed Gilani, the owner of J Bees. “I don’t know what’s going on, but Chicago is getting wild. It’s too often.”

Gilani told CBS Chicago that the crime trends in Chicago are detrimental to business conditions, where substantial quantities of inventory can be stolen.  “I’m not surprised because that’s the way the trend is going on.  But I’m really upset because … you gather all this inventory for a long period of time. It’s not like in one night. Everything is gone,” he said.

The business owner pointed out that the criminal behavior observed in the instance follows a typical pattern that law enforcement has not been able to combat.  “The same pattern, they’re doing it, the same guys out there doing it.  Police are trying to catch them, eventually they will. But for the time being, I have to take a loss,” he said.

“It’s very tough,” Gilani emphasized. “You gather all this merchandise for a very long period of time and then all of a sudden it just vanishes. It’s like a disaster. You wake up in the morning and it seems like everything is gone. So it’s very hard right now. Very hard situation right now.”  Watch the footage of the Footlocker looting caught live on air:

https://x.com/endwokeness/status/1819470134299578529?s=12

Note:  The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.