Dozens of teens and young adults orchestrated a series of smash-and-grab robberies at three Los Angeles 7-Eleven stores on Friday night, just hours after California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a crime bill aimed at addressing such thefts. The coordinated attacks involved approximately 20 to 30 youths who stormed the stores, grabbed merchandise, and fled on bicycles, according to NBC Los Angeles. The first robbery occurred around 8:00 p.m. at a 7-Eleven on West Sunset Boulevard, followed by another at a store near Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, where a worker was assaulted. The spree concluded at a Santa Monica Boulevard location, where the group broke a window and stole over $2,000 worth of goods.

These brazen thefts occurred despite Newsom’s recent signing of a bipartisan package of 10 bills designed to tackle California’s rising property crime. The legislation imposes stricter penalties on repeat offenders and those running professional reselling schemes, which Newsom described as “the most significant legislation to address property crime in modern California history.” During the signing, Newsom emphasized that the new laws would make communities safer by providing law enforcement with the necessary tools to arrest and hold criminals accountable.

However, the effectiveness of these new measures was immediately called into question as the robberies unfolded. Security footage obtained by Fox 11 Los Angeles showed the chaotic scenes inside the stores, where young men ransacked shelves, damaged equipment, and hurled items at employees. The swift and organized nature of these crimes underscores the ongoing challenge California faces in curbing smash-and-grab incidents, even with the new laws in place.

The recent crime spree also follows a similar incident last week when a group of teens on bicycles broke into a 7-Eleven on Olympic Boulevard to steal food and cigarettes. Despite the governor’s assertion that the new legislation offers a better approach to public safety, the continued frequency of such thefts raises concerns about whether the laws will effectively deter criminals in the long term.