Outdated Looting Video Falsely Linked to Recent California Earthquake
The Claim
People have started looting their local retail stores after recent evacuations in California take place due to the Tsunami warnings.
News posted on
Emerging story
In the aftermath of the California earthquake, a video went viral on X of people wearing hoodies and masks looting from a mall. The video was claimed to show recent looting operations of local retail stores in California after the earthquake.
An X user shared the video saying: “People have started looting their local retail stores after recent evacuations in California take place due to the Tsunami warnings.”
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the viral claim and found it to be misleading. The video predates the recent earthquake in California.
A 2023 Video of Flash Mob in California
Misbar traced the video to a clip published on YouTube by Good Morning America's official YouTube channel. In the YouTube video, the alleged footage of looting operations can be found at the timestamp 00:24.
Misbar’s team further found a screenshot from the viral video shared by NDTV in a 2023 article captioned, “50 people were involved in the daytime robbery on August 12.”
A comparison between the screenshot shared by NDTV and one of the frames of the viral video shows that the two frames are identical and taken from the same location, at the same time.
KCAL News also shared the video in August 2023, along with the title, “Flash mob ransacks Nordstrom store in Canoga Park.”
The scenes from the viral video show about a dozen looters hit the Nordstrom store at the Westfield Topanga Mall, California in August 2023.
The thieves rushed into Nordstrom wearing hoodies and masks and took up to a hundred thousand dollars worth of merchandise in minutes.
The clothes and merchandise stolen are worth $100,000. The thieves then left using multiple vehicles, which included luxury cars like a BMW and a Lexus, according to the police department.
A Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake Hit California
A powerful earthquake hit Northern California on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. The magnitude 7.0 earthquake prompted a brief tsunami warning for 5.3 million people along the U.S. West Coast.
The earthquake was the most powerful temblor to hit the area since a magnitude 7.1 quake struck Ridgecrest in 2019.
Some shops reported groceries toppling from shelves and shattered bottles, and many residents felt the shaking. Some even evacuated to higher ground. However, the powerful quake caused minor damage in areas closest to the epicenter, and no major damage was reported.
The earthquake left more than 3,000 customers in Humboldt County, California, the closest county to the epicenter of the earthquake, without power. Around 10,000 homes and businesses lost service there shortly after the quake.
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