Police arrested a suspect Wednesday after a brazen theft inside an Apple Store in Berkeley, California, where shocked customers watched the scene unfold.
Detectives with the Emeryville Police Department took Tyler Mims into custody, Fox Business reported Thursday.
Video footage shows the suspect, wearing all black and a pair of red shoes, allegedly grabbing items inside the store and ripping their cords out of the display tables. The store’s alarm is heard, and people are seen watching from a distance.
However, no one appears to say anything to the suspect as he allegedly continues grabbing items and shoving them down the front of his pants:
He then exits the store and jogs past a police car before approaching another vehicle waiting outside:
Update: The viral video of a black male suspect stealing dozens of phones at an Apple Store near Oakland has resulted in an arrest. Tyler Mims is accused of brazenly stealing around $49,230 of merchandise. The @EmeryvillePD police car outside was empty.pic.twitter.com/WUdaFewnaK
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) February 9, 2024
Mims was charged with burglary, grand theft, and additional crimes regarding the incident that happened on Monday. The Fox report said the person who called for help said the suspect took 50 iPhones.
The bundle was valued at $49,230, the outlet continued, adding, “Since Jan. 19, the department has responded to four grand thefts from the Apple Store in town,” and police say they are part of organized retail crime.
It is important to note that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) recently said he was shocked to hear a Target worker blame him for the shoplifting plaguing the state, which erupted after it adopted criminal justice reforms he supported, Breitbart News reported on February 1.
Newsom relayed the incident during a Zoom call:
In a Zoom call about a mental health proposition, Gov. Gavin Newsom says he was at a Target and saw someone walk out without paying.
He asked a worker why the person steals and they blamed the Governor before looking at him twice and recognizing him.
“I was like, why I am… pic.twitter.com/zpLFtNwiSZ
— Gabriel Lorenzo Greschler (@ggreschler) January 31, 2024
The outlet continued:
Newsom relayed a story of visiting Target and watching someone steal from the store. He expressed surprise that the clerk did not pursue the thief, only to be told that no one stopped shoplifters because the governor lowered the threshold for punishing thieves.
The governor, whom the clerk did not recognize, protested: “That’s just not true,” he said. However, Proposition 47 of 2014, which he backed, and whose repeal he continues to oppose, reduced the penalty for theft up to $950 from a felony to a misdemeanor.
In addition, the California State Senate passed a bill in the summer of 2023 that would bar employers from requiring their workers to help stop shoplifters, per Breitbart News.
RELATED: Brazen Shoplifting Activity in San Fran Continues…
Lyanne Melendez
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