Masked mob smashes LA County store during street takeover, steals snacks and tries to take ATM

A sledgehammer-wielding group ransacked Atlas Fuel in Bellflower around 2:45 a.m. Monday during an illegal street takeover. The latest attack is part of a string of smash-and-grabs across Los Angeles.

Masked group raids Bellflower convenience store amid street takeover

A gang of masked thieves smashed their way into a convenience store in Bellflower, Los Angeles County, early Monday morning while an illegal street takeover blocked nearby streets, NY Post Metro reports.

Atlas Fuel on Artesia Boulevard was struck at around 2:45 a.m. Surveillance footage shared by Eyewitness News showed two individuals in black hoodies approaching the entrance — one of them swinging a sledgehammer to shatter the glass front door.

The store's lone worker initially attempted to drive the intruders off using a dustpan and a broom. For a brief moment it appeared to work. Within minutes, however, dozens more thieves poured through the broken entrance.

The employee retreated behind the bulletproof partition and pulled it shut just as one masked individual reached for the register.

"Their plan was to vandalize everything inside the store. They tried to take the ATM. Everything happened in 30 seconds or one minute and then they left," the shop's owner, who asked not to be identified, told ABC News.

The group cleared out snacks, drinks and candy before fleeing. The entire raid lasted under a minute.

Part of a broader wave across LA

The Bellflower break-in is the latest in a series of smash-and-grabs tied to illegal street takeovers that have struck Los Angeles County in recent weeks.

Early Sunday, roughly 20 thieves hit a Superior Grocers location in South Los Angeles around 4:30 a.m., near Manchester Avenue and San Pedro Street, during a separate street takeover. Later that same night, two additional businesses were targeted.

The Los Angeles Police Department said the first of those incidents occurred around 11 p.m. at Lorena Pharmacy on the 3400 block of Whittier Boulevard in Boyle Heights. Less than two miles away, a Jack in the Box near South Downey Road and East Olympic Boulevard in East Los Angeles was struck minutes later at around 11:15 p.m. Footage from that scene showed two suspects using a saw to cut through the entrance before leaving with baskets of stolen merchandise.

Bellflower itself had been hit less than two weeks earlier, when a separate group looted family-owned A-Z Market. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department estimated the combined value of stolen inventory and property damage from that incident at nearly $30,000. Images released by the owners showed emptied drawers, stripped shelves and merchandise — including candy, food and other products — scattered across the floor.

Source: NY Post Metro