Six suspects attempted to steal packages of Nike shoes and apparel from a freight train near Whittier early Thursday morning before fleeing. The attempted heist unfolded around 2:21 a.m. near 3777 Workman Mill Road, just east of the 605 Freeway, in one of the latest in a string of Southern California rail burglaries targeting high-value footwear shipments.
California Highway Patrol officers responded after Union Pacific Railroad security personnel called for assistance, according to a CHP spokesperson cited by the Press-Enterprise. By the time officers arrived, the six suspects had already fled the scene. Authorities later recovered numerous boxes — including several Nike shoe boxes — dumped below a nearby freeway overpass, though the newspaper reports the total amount of cargo stolen remains unclear.
No suspect descriptions were immediately available, leaving investigators with little to go on as they piece together how the group accessed the train and how they escaped before CHP arrived. The paper notes that the theft could leave Nike stores without some of the brand’s most popular shoes and clothing in stock, at least temporarily.
Part of a Growing Pattern Along Southern California Rail Lines
The Whittier incident lands squarely within a well-documented wave of freight train burglaries hitting Southern California this year. Just days earlier, Hoodline reported that burglars torched a freight car in Riverside after forcing a train to stop so they could loot its containers. Earlier in the month, an off-duty deputy helped recover roughly $50,000 in stolen boots and tools from an Amboy train heist…