Investigators are combing through surveillance footage of a mob robbery on a BART train in Oakland, California, which involved up to 60 suspects.
Dozens of teenagers jumped fare gates and stormed the commuter train on Saturday night, strong-arming six victims ― plus one on the platform ― out of a purse, five cell phones and a duffel bag in just 30 seconds, authorities told The Los Angeles Times Monday. The suspects scattered into the streets below before police arrived.
One victim told KPIX in the segment above that at first it seemed like the invading throng was just “horsing around.”
“By the time I realized it was turning violent, someone had already snatched my phone,” she said.
Two passengers required medical attention from paramedics for face and head injuries.
KPIX reported that at least a few flash robberies have happened before on the line ― but BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said never in these kinds of numbers.
“I’ve been there 24 years and this is the first time I’ve heard of anything like this happening,” BART police officer Keith Garcia said, according to SF Gate.
A BART police sergeant and an officer who were in the Coliseum Station parking lot near the train arrived within minutes but were too late, the news outlet noted.
The surveillance video is not being released to the public because the suspects appear to be juveniles, according to SF Gate. But the footage is being shared with housing and school authorities to help identify the suspects.
“We have had success with sharing images of juveniles with this group and identifying and making arrests in the past,” Trost said.
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