Looting Ravages Santa Monica, Long Beach As Troops Are Called In

LOS ANGELES, CA — Looting and fires trailed police brutality protests across Los Angeles County Sunday, ending with widespread devastation in Santa Monica and Long Beach, 10 million people under curfew, hundreds of arrests and armored military vehicles lining the streets. It was the second day of looting in Los Angeles County, leaving communities bracing for what's to come on Monday when more protests are planned in the West Hollywood area.

The surreal scene in Los Angeles was mirrored in cities across the nation as frustration with the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis turned to widespread rage over systematic racism and police brutality in America. According to Los Angeles County police officials, most of the local protesters were peaceful over the weekend, but their demonstrations provided cover for looters and groups bent on destruction. Repeatedly, protesters could be seen begging the looters to stop. Still, dozens of businesses were looted and several set ablaze in Santa Monica's tourist-friendly Promenade, were police turned water canons and teargas on the mobs. In Downtown Long Beach, more than a thousand protestors surrounded police headquarters, and the National Guard was brought in as looting spread along Pine Avenue, where police fired rubber bullets into the crowd.

Late Sunday night as authorities got the upper hand on rioters in Santa Monica, looting spread to Venice. A Los Angeles Police Department officer was shot in the leg near the Whole Foods parking lot bordering Venice and Santa Monica. LAPD Assistant Chief Horace Frank told the Los Angeles Times the incident is being investigated by the department's Robbery Homicide Division.

At the same time, firefighters battled a massive blaze in Long Beach at a men's clothing store that had been looted earlier in the day at 6th and Pine streets. A stretch of Second Street in Belmont Shore was closed and the Long Beach Towne Center closed down as businesses across the city braced for potential looting.

One person was shot and killed amid the Downtown LA protests Sunday night, and it was unclear if the shooting was gang or protest related, said LAPD Officer Mike Lopez.

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger announced Sunday that she has proclaimed a state of emergency as well, which will facilitate interagency response coordination and mutual aid, accelerate the procurement of vital supplies and enable future state and federal reimbursement of costs incurred by the county.

"This emergency comes as we are in the midst of battling another emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This taxes our resources, but not our resolve," Barger said. "We will do everything in our power to keep our communities safe and protect lives and property. I continue to call on our residents to maintain calm and seek solutions productively, not destructively."

Roughly 1,000 National Guardsmen took up their defensive position along with area police, a move that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he hopes will be a "very short visit," but there is no fixed timeline.

To that effect, all area residents were ordered to remain home until 6 a.m. Monday.

The only exceptions to the order were made for people traveling to and from work, those seeking medical treatment, homeless people as well as emergency and medical workers.

Still, hundreds defied the curfew, gathering after 6 p.m. in downtown Los Angeles.

Demonstrators confronted guardsmen, according to media reports, chanting "No Justice, No Peace," and "Black Lives Matter," and "George Floyd! George Floyd!"

Even with the curfew order, groups gathered to vandalize and loot businesses and shopping districts. Santa Monica and Long Beach were both hard hit.

Several thousand people took part in the protest that started at 3 p.m. at Long Beach Police Headquarters and they marched along Ocean Boulevard and back to downtown, according to police and media accounts.

Looters began their assault around 5 p.m., hitting several businesses in The Pike Outlets including T-Mobile and Luxury Perfume. They also stole from the Jean Machine in the City Place Shopping Center, Mark Schneider Fine Jewelry in the Promenade, a Ross store and several businesses along Long Beach Boulevard including El Super and a CVS. They could be seen making multiple trips inside stores to carry out armfuls of merchandise which they loaded into awaiting vehicles, taking selfies and smiling for television cameras.

"Heartbreaking," was the way Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna described the turn of events. "We planned for a large group of protesters to express their anger in a positive way," he said.

That meant bringing in hundreds of officers -- four to five times the usual Sunday staff -- who were quickly overwhelmed because once officers gained control of an area they could not give it up and looters moved on.

Santa Monica protest grows violent

Police told the public to stay away from the downtown and Civic Center area Sunday in Santa Monica as a peaceful protest devolved into looting in the Third Street Promenade area.

Video showed some people breaking off from the peaceful protest, looting stores, taking items and running.

Armored police vehicles in Santa Monica used water cannons to break up mobs where looters broke into and set fire to businesses in the Third Street Promenade area and at City Hall. Among the hundreds arrested by Santa Monica police were some of the vandals and opportunists, who used the demonstrations as cover to loot. Nearly a dozen buildings or vehicles were set ablaze Sunday.

A Road Runners shoe store was looted along with a neighboring Patagonia apparel store and the Sake House on Fourth Street just west of Santa Monica Boulevard, the Hot Topic and REI store on Santa Monica Boulevard, Bloomingdale's on Colorado Boulevard, and the high-end retailer Wasteland and a Chase Bank branch.

A Los Angeles Police Department officer was shot in the leg amid the protests and looting at the Santa Monica-Venice border. She was hospitalized and is expected to recover.

See Also: Photos: George Floyd Protests Continue In Santa Monica.

All Interstate 10 and Pacific Coast Highway off-ramps into Santa Monica were closed by the California Highway Patrol as the situation escalated, the agency announced.

A curfew was updated to 4 p.m. Sunday in Santa Monica. City officials had announced it would be at 8 p.m. early Sunday but updated to 4 p.m. following the unrest.

With brooms and empathy, Angelenos pitch in

Tom O'Connell, a 20 year Fairfax resident, woke to a trash-littered street. Blue Adidas boxes, from a looted shoe store, were scattered across his Laurel Avenue front yard and across the asphalt.

Taking his dog for a walk, he followed the detritus to Melrose Avenue, and saw what happened when tensions snapped overnight. He captured pictures of littered side-streets of his area home. O'Connell, a father of three, had joined hundreds on Saturday Pan Pacific Park a short distance from his Melrose area home. And he listened as protests escalated overnight

Sunday morning, he joined fellow neighbors, many of whom said they understood the impulse behind the destruction, in an effort to clean up the neighborhood.

Sunday vigils

A handful of candlelight vigils and other actions in memory of Floyd took place Sunday, including a 3 p.m. protest at Long Beach Police Headquarters and vigils in Compton at 6:30 p.m and Pasadena at 7 p.m.

Garcetti said a small number of COVID-19 testing sites may not open Monday because workers do not feel safe reporting to those locations, but the city's largest site at Dodger Stadium will remain open.

He also appealed for demonstrators to remember that the coronavirus pandemic still presents a serious threat.

"The folks that are out there on these streets should not be a victim of this virus because we're not practicing social distancing," he said.

Saturday's peaceful demonstrations escalate

The Los Angeles Police Department said 398 arrests were made Saturday related to the protests, with accusations including burglary, looting, vandalism, failure to disperse, being a felon in possession of a gun, and numerous curfew violations.

LAPD Chief Michael Moore acknowledged he saw a few instances of improper policing techniques as officers tried to control the sometimes unruly crowds. Moore said he has been handing out his business card to demonstrators who complained about police conduct over the weekend.
The chief said the department will take complaints from anyone who has an accusation of excessive force or unlawful arrests by the LAPD.

Peaceful demonstrations in the Fairfax District Saturday became unruly when several hundred demonstrators converged, with some taking over the intersection of Third Street and Fairfax Avenue, shutting down traffic. At the nearby intersection of Third and Edinburgh Avenue, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd after several police cars were vandalized.

Police tried to hold the line against further advancement, and could be seen engaging in scuffles with some protesters, and some officers used their clubs. They later brought in large, military-style vehicles to clear the streets, while some sign-carrying protesters chanting "Eat the rich" moved on to Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills' famed shopping destination.

The windows at scores of stores were broken, with people rushing in and clearing shelves of pricey merchandise.

The Fairfax District gathering followed a noon Black Lives Matter rally at Pan Pacific Park, at 7600 Beverly Blvd. A handful of similar demonstrations were also held Saturday in other parts of the city.

At a hastily scheduled news conference to address what the city is doing to keep the public safe, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a curfew for the downtown area and initially said he would not ask for National Guard troops. Shortly afterward, he extended curfew, which was in effect from 8 p.m. Saturday until 5:30 a.m. Sunday, to the entire city and asked Newsom send 500 guard troops to help police.

Villanueva later said the number was closer to 1,000 because he made a similar request for unincorporated areas.

Nationwide, at least 5,000 National Guard Soldiers and Airmen have been activated in 15 states, plus the District of Columbia, in response to civil disturbances tied to Floyd-related protests, according to a statement released Sunday.

Other area cities followed Garcetti's lead Saturday night, including Culver City, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and Pasadena, which all implemented similar curfews. It was unclear whether those cities or others would do the same Sunday evening.

Looting was rampant Saturday at several downtown stores, in the Fairfax District and Beverly Hills with targets including a high-end consignment store on Fairfax Avenue, an eyeglass store on Melrose Avenue, a Target in the Beverly Grove shopping center and a Walgreens at Fourth and Hill streets.

Later in the evening looters cleaned out an Apple store on Melrose Avenue and reportedly took merchandise from a MedMen cannabis dispensary in West Hollywood. Images of similar damage in the Larchmont area was circulated on social media.

Minneapolis-based Target announced late Saturday that it will temporarily close 175 of its stores, including more than two dozen in the Southland. Employees will be paid their regular salaries for two weeks, including bonus pay for working through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Garcetti expresses sympathy

The mayor joined many other city officials in sympathizing with demonstrators expressing frustration about repeated acts of police brutality targeting black men, while also appealing for calm. "With liberty comes responsibility to be able to peacefully protest," Garcetti said.

"For that one or two percent of the protesters who think that (violence) is the way to make a statement, do not do a disservice to the memory of George Floyd (and) the folks who have died at the hands of the brutality that we all stand against," Garcetti said.

Rev. Najuma Smith Pollard, program manager for the USC Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement added, "It is the right thing to stand up and speak out. We don't need more mayhem. It doesn't work."

Demonstrations have been held throughout the nation, and in several other parts of the world, since video of Floyd being handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a white Minneapolis Police Department officer, Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee on the 46-year-old man's neck for more than eight minutes while Floyd pleaded for air and three other officers looked on.

Video footage of the arrest, in which Floyd is heard saying "I can't breathe," spread widely online, and all four officers were fired.

Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter on Friday.

At 5 p.m. Tuesday, the NAACP, the National Association of Day Laborers and a coalition of faith leaders will sponsor "Caravan Vigil & Peace," which will convene at First AME Church in Pasadena, 1700 N. Raymond Ave, It will be followed by car caravans through the streets of Pasadena.

Earlier Saturday, LAPD Chief Michel Moore joined other city leaders in appealing for calm.

"I am asking for all of Los Angeles to come together and find the ability to peacefully express individual and collective grievances while also maintaining the safety of all of Angelenos," he said.

The LAPD reported 4,400 calls to 911 within the fist 30 minutes of Saturday's protests, according to ABC7.

The exact number of arrests for will not be available until later Sunday, police officials said. But Moore said 533 people were arrested overnight Friday on charges including burglary, looting, probation violations, battery on a police officer, attempted murder and failure to disperse. All but 18 have been released.

"Six Los Angeles Police Officers were injured during the protests on Friday night and early Saturday morning," Moore tweeted. "They sustained non- life-threatening injuries ranging from lacerations to impact wounds."

In a statement accompanying his emergency declaration statement, Newsom warned against outsiders who might come to California to exploit its "pain to sow chaos and destruction," and urged a renewed focus on the systemic issues at the core of the disturbances.

"Our state and nation must build from this moment united and more resolved than ever to address racism and its root causes," Newsom said.

City News Service contributed to this report.