Large Group of Suspects Steals Handbags from The RealReal
Published on June 22, 2021
Palo Alto, CA – A coordinated group of seven suspects went into the open The RealReal store on Monday afternoon in downtown Palo Alto, escaping with more than $50,000 in handbags. The suspects caused no injuries, and while a gun was mentioned when a security officer attempted to intervene, none was seen. The suspects are at large.
On Monday, June 21, 2021 at about 5:56 p.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call from a security guard at The RealReal, a store at 379 University Avenue, reporting that a large group of suspects had just committed a theft and fled the scene. Officers responded immediately but the suspects had already fled.
The investigation revealed that five suspects entered the open store and began ripping handbags from security cables. The store’s on-duty security officer (a man in his thirties) attempted to block their exit, but they pushed him out of the way. When he followed them out of the store, he encountered two additional suspects who had remained outside during the theft. One of those suspects told the other to “pull the gun,” and that other suspect then in turn told the security officer, “Don’t make me the pull the gun.” The security officer never saw a weapon. All seven suspects than ran eastbound on University Avenue, and the security officer reported hearing tires screeching from vehicles on Waverley Street. No vehicles were seen. Employees estimated that the suspects stole about 20 handbags, with a total value of more than $50,000.
The security officer and another employee (a woman in her twenties) could only describe the suspects as black males in their early twenties. All were wearing face coverings and hooded clothing with the hoods up. Police will not be releasing any surveillance images of the incident, as the footage would not aid in the identification of the suspects.
Officers are actively investigating this case, to include working with regional partners to see if the same group of suspects may be connected to any similar burglary shoplifts in other cities. Police are exploring whether this incident may be associated with two other recent similar cases that occurred at Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto: one at Neiman Marcus on May 19, and one at Louis Vuitton on June 7.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.