Teens ransack multiple stores in Philadelphia including medical marijuana dispensary: police

Large crowds of teenagers ransacked multiple stores across Philadelphia Tuesday night, including a medical marijuana dispensary, authorities said.

The mob-style looting was first reported around 7:30 p.m. in the Center City area, officials said according to local television station WPIV. However, subsequent incidents were also reported in North Philadelphia and Northeast Philadelphia.

Among the stores targeted by the looters were Apple, Foot Locker, Lululemon and a Curaleaf dispensary. A stolen Kia was used to ram through the doors of the medical marijuana shop, according to police.

The incidents happened shortly after a peaceful demonstration to protest a judge’s decision to dismiss all charges against Mark Dial, a former police officer who shot and killed 27-year-old Eddie Irizarry during a vehicle stop on Aug. 14.

However, the two incidents were not related, according to Acting Police Commissioner John Stanford.

“[The ransacking] had nothing to do with the protests,” Stanford said in a late-night news conference. “What we had tonight was a bunch of criminal opportunists.”

The crowd got as large as 100 people, the commissioner told reporters.

“We’re investigating that there was possibly a caravan of a number of different vehicles that were going from location to location,” he added.

At least 20 people were arrested and two firearms were recovered as of late Tuesday night, though it’s not clear if the guns are connected to the looting.

No injuries were immediately reported, police said.

Early on Wednesday, Mayor Jim Kenney took to social media to thank Philadelphia Police “for their swift response to disperse crowds and make necessary arrests related to last night’s incidents.”

Kenney also slammed the looting as a “sickening display of opportunistic criminal activity.”

With News Wire Services