Over 70 cars stolen from California dealership during Georg Floyd protests
Looters made off with millions in cars, including nearly every Dodge Hellcat in the place
by
COLEMAN MOLNAR | 6 HOURS AGO
Vandalized cars sit in a Mercedes-Benz of Oakland showroom during in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday, May 30, 2020, during protests against the Monday death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man in police custody in Minneapolis.Noah Berger / AP via Getty
Protests against the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer have turned chaotic and in California resulted in the theft of an estimated 70 cars from an Fiat Chrysler dealership, according to reports.
The owner of the San Leandro Dodge dealership, Carlos Hidalgo, says looting began at other shops across the street at 7:30 pm on Sunday, and hours later had spilled over to the lot.
By 10:30 pm, nearly US$2.7M worth of cars had been taken.
Videos captured on social media show looters spinning the tires of the cars before driving away with them.
“Oh, it was a war zone,” Hidalgo told Bay Area news source
Kron4. “They came in, finally got in here and they had tear gas and there were cars crashed everywhere. It was bad and 70-plus cars are missing.”
The stolen Fiat Chrysler Automotive vehicles include Jeeps, trucks, Chargers and the most pricey cars on the lot, Dodge Challenger Hellcats. Some thieves even rammed other vehicles in the way in order to escape.
“Police was overwhelmed. They hijacked all of San Leandro last night so nobody could come out so they had about five hours of looting inside the dealership,” Hidalgo said.
Hidalgo says the stolen vehicles contain location trackers, and so far 20 have already been recovered. The dealership has since hired armed security to patrol the lot at night.
