The Philadelphia Police Department released several new surveillance videos from last week's looting incidents as authorities continued to search for suspects in connection with the widespread vandalism and theft that swept across the city on Tuesday and Wednesday. At least 60 people have been arrested in connection with the looting so far.
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- Social media influencer 'Meatball' charged with 6 felonies after livestreaming Philly looting
- At least 20 arrested as crowds loot stores in Center City, the Northeast, West Philly
- Charges dropped against Mark Dial, the Philly cop who shot Eddie Irizarry, but D.A.'s Office plans to appeal
In a suite of new videos shared by police on social media on Saturday, groups of unknown individuals can be seen breaking into various businesses, vandalizing them and stealing merchandise – and in one case, managing to make off with a safe stolen from the back of a Dunkin' in West Philly.
The other newly-released videos show groups of people looting the Apple Store in Center City, a Dollar General and a Walgreens in West Philly, as well as a Family Dollar in the Lawncrest section of Northeast Philly.
The businesses are just a fraction of the establishments damaged or otherwise impacted by the widespread looting that unfolded across the city last week. On Friday, the Department of Commerce's Office of Business Services announced that it will offer emergency grants to some of the businesses affected by the looting and encouraged businesses to apply for the financial assistance on its website.
The chaos started unfolding downtown around around 8 p.m. last Tuesday after a group of what police estimated to be around 100 people started breaking into and ransacking stores like Lululemon, Foot Locker, the Apple Store and several others before traveling in a caravan of cars to other neighborhoods throughout the city.
At least 18 state-operated liquor stores were targeted during the incidents, prompting the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to close all liquor stores in Philadelphia on Wednesday. Most of the city's liquor stores in were reopened by Thursday, while nine of them remained closed for clean-up and damage repair.
The coordinated acts of vandalism and theft broke out hours after a judge's decision to dismiss murder charges against former Philadelphia Police Officer Mark Dial in the shooting death of Eddie Irizarry during the traffic stop in mid-August.
Acting Police Commissioner John Stanford was quick to point out that the looting was not directly related to the peaceful protests that unfolded a few blocks away in opposition to the murder charges against Dial being dismissed, although some of the people allegedly involved in the looting – like the social media influencer known as 'Meatball,' who was arrested after live-streaming some of the downtown looting spree – can be heard in videos shared on social media decrying the judge's ruling.