PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Groups of young people looted stores in different parts of Philadelphia Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.
Authorities believe they took advantage of the peaceful protests that were held in the wake of a judge’s decision to dismiss charges against ex-Philly cop Mark Dial for fatally shooting Eddie Irizarry.
More than 100 people, consisting mainly of teens and young people, made their way to Center City after the protests ended around 7:30 p.m. at City Hall and started to loot, police said.
Some broke into the Apple Store on Walnut Street and got away with display iPhones and iPads. Some ran off with clothes from the Lululemon store down the street and shoes from the Foot Locker on Chestnut Street. The glass on the front door was cracked.
Police responded and eventually got a handle on the situation in Center City, but groups then swarmed to spots in West Philadelphia, Port Richmond and the Roosevelt Mall in the Northeast.
“What we had tonight was a bunch of criminal opportunists take advantage of a situation and make an attempt to destroy our city,” interim Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Stanford told reporters late Tuesday night.
“Again, it is not going to be tolerated. We made arrests and we will continue to make arrests.”
As of Tuesday night, police made about 15 to 20 arrests, Stanford said. A couple of guns were recovered. A police car’s windshield was also damaged.
“It’s disrespectful to the Irizarry family and what they’re going through right now,” said City Managing Director Tumar Alexander. “They were at the protests earlier. They’ve certainly communicated in all their social media and media appearances about wanting answers, wanting justice, but also wanting it to be peaceful.”
Police are scouring through surveillance footage and social media posts. Some of those involved were going live on their phones during the looting.
On Tuesday, Municipal Court Judge Wendy Pew dismissed the case against Dial, who was charged with the Aug. 14 murder of Irizarry.
Irizarry had been driving erratically and went the wrong way down a one-way street in Fairhill, police said. Dial and another officer responded. Body camera footage shows Dial approaching Irizarry’s car and firing several shots into the rolled-up driver’s side window within seconds of arriving. Irizarry was struck several times and taken to the hospital, where he died.
The district attorney has already refiled the charges. Another hearing is scheduled for next month.