Video: About 100 juveniles ransack Wawa in Philadelphia's Mayfair section
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A group of about 100 juveniles ransacked a Wawa in Philadelphia's Mayfair section Saturday night. The store is located on Roosevelt Boulevard at Tyson Avenue.
Police are working with the Philadelphia School District to identify the young people seen in the video ransacking the store, but they are also pleading for the public's help, especially to the parents of these alleged vandals.
Cellphone video captures the chaos as juveniles stole and broke things throughout the store.
Police say a large group of young people stormed the convenience store, stealing and vandalizing, while employees watched helplessly around 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
"It was approximately 50 to 100 people," Philadelphia Police Captain John J. Ryan said. "The Wawa was completely sacked by the kids coming inside and destroying things, and thankfully there were no injuries to the Wawa, personnel, or to responding police."
Another video shows the mob outside in the parking lot
Chaos erupts as a large group of people trash the Wawa at Tyson & the Blvd in NE Philly.@CBSPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/v2wgxv1ZLZ
— Steve Lindsay (@SteveLindsayCBS) September 25, 2022
Police are working to identify the suspects, who they say are facing serious charges.
"The charges can include riot, a criminal mischief, vandalism, theft, riot being a felony," Ryan said.
Police say the mob came to Wawa from the Rolling Thunder Skating Center next door. An employee there says the mob broke tables.
"After they roller skated, they started fighting inside the Rolling Thunder, after they went inside Rolling Thunder, they started fighting and going crazy in Wawa and throwing chips," Rolling Thunder employee Latif Kelsey said.
When police arrived, they broke up the crowd, but there were outnumbered and unable to make any arrests.
"We have to be cautious because if we just had officers running in and just grabbing kids, we would be having a whole different conversation today. And then that's the unfortunate piece," Philadelphia Police First Deputy Commissioner John Stanford said.
Detectives say some of the kids involved were just 10 years old.
"Bottom line, we cannot have this type of behavior happening again, the business community doesn't deserve that. The citizens of this city don't deserve it," Stanford said.
In a statement, wawa says they are working with police to review in-store surveillance videos and implement deterrence measures.
If you have any information on this incident or the identities of any of these individuals, call police.
Detectives are also attempting to locate the owners of the vehicles that were damaged outside in the parking lot.