Several East Bay businesses were broken into Wednesday night in what appears to be attempted large-scale looting organized on social media.
The GameStop in Emeryville and the nearby Best Buy store in Oakland were both targeted by looters. Both businesses were boarding up broken windows early Thursday, though employees at Best Buy said their losses were minimal.
Fahim Marzouk was trying to buy some batteries with his son when he found the store closed. "It’s not something good because we bring our kids right here," he told KCBS Radio.
The looters communicated with each other using social media, police said.
"They were posting pictures of police cars essentially in parking lots at the malls," said San Leandro Police Lt. Ali Khan.
He said the looters also tried to target Bayfair Center in San Leandro, but authorities got wind of the threats - also posted on social media - and were able to strategically position police officers and prevent any further damage.
"There was a group of about 100 that showed up at Bayfair mall and ultimately within the hour left the area," Lt. Khan said, adding they're believed to be the same group that looted in Emeryville and Oakland on Wednesday night.
Several of the same stores were targeted in a wave of summer looting.
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