'Flash Mob' Loots Maryland 7-Eleven

30 teenagers swarmed in and calmly shoplifted
By Tim Karan,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 15, 2011 2:40 PM CDT

Apparently looting now falls under the classification of "flash mob." A group of 30 teenagers strolled into a Maryland 7-Eleven early yesterday, quietly picked up items, and then walked out without paying, reports Fox News. Cops are calling it another instance of flash mob crime, in which large groups of young people quickly gather to rob, assault, or harass unsuspecting bystanders.

“As criminals go, they were pretty neat,” says a police spokesman. “There were no injuries and they didn’t ransack the store.” The suspects—mostly African-American teens—were quiet, but a surveillance video shows some covered their faces to thwart identification. Community leaders had previously asked for a mandatory curfew for area youth like that imposed in Philadelphia, and although no arrests have been made, police say they have "extensive resources" to track social media sites where other mobs could be organized. Which is worse: this type of incident or the impromptu nudist colony that popped up earlier this month on Wall Street? (More flash mob stories.)

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