California Bay Area stores see 3 consecutive days of looting

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Stores in California's San Francisco Bay Area have been hit with three days of mob-style smash-and-grab robberies with police searching for dozens of suspects in the mass lootings.

Three suspects have been taken into custody in connection with a theft at the Broadway Plaza Nordstrom in Walnut Creek on Saturday evening, the police department there said on Sunday. Two of the store's employees were assaulted and a third was hit with pepper spray by the mob, police said.

Two of those who were apprehended at the scene were taken into custody as they attempted to flee by car. One had a firearm in their possession, the Walnut Creek Police Department said in a statement. The third person was arrested "a short time later" while "in possession of stolen Nordstrom property."

Police identified the suspects that were taken into custody as Dana Dawson, 30, Joshua Underwood, 32, and Rodney Robinson, 18. Dawson faces gun charges.

Additional suspects fled the scene in cars driven "at high speeds," police added.

The department later said it was "actively monitoring intelligence that indicates the group of thieves who stole from the Broadway Plaza Nordstrom last night are considering similar activity later today."

It is unclear which areas they were monitoring, but two other stores were hit on Sunday, including a mall in the city of Hayward, and a Lululemon retailer in San Jose.

Witnesses described seeing a group of 40 to 50 people ransacking Sam's Jewelers in the Hayward mall as they used hammers to smash through protective glass before fleeing the scene, according to CBS News. A Macy's store was also reportedly looted there.

In San Francisco, a Louis Vuitton store in the city's Union Square was hit on Friday evening with "multiple suspects" being taken into custody in relation to that robbery, police said.