LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Two stores in Lansing Thursday were victims of what they call a “Flash Mob Robbery.”
In broad daylight, store camera footage caught five teens stuffing their bags full of items from Deadtime Stories: True Crime and Other Books in REO Town . The owner said two people from the group distracted her as the others searched for things to steal. It wasn’t until a day later that they found out they had become a crime victim.
“I was contacted from another shop owner that realized they had taken a lot of things from her,” said Deadtime Stories owner Jenn Carpenter. “She asked me to check my camera footage, and as soon as I pulled it up, my stomach dropped, because the footage was of them stuffing their bags worth of hundreds and hundreds of dollars in merchandise.”
The store owners weren’t the only ones who were shocked by what they saw. One of the thieves looked straight into the camera–ironically, wearing a Christian music festival sweatshirt.
Carpenters said that in just 15 minutes, the group took more than $1,300 worth of merchandise before heading across the street to target other stores.