NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Smash-and-take hold of looters targeted stores across the country ahead of Thanksgiving and over Black Fri weekend, robbing stores of thousands of dollars in trade and even leaving one California security guard dead as he tried to protect a news coiffure that was reporting on the crimes.

"We tried to stop them," Dwelling house Depot employee Luis Romo told Fob 11 of a "wink mob" targeting the shop in Lakewood, California, on Black Friday. "We closed the front end entrance and they put their sledgehammers up and whoever got in the way, they were going to hurt them."

The group of eight robbers stole hammers, crowbars and other tools, swiping most $400 worth of merchandise. Such tools have been used in other nail-and-catch robberies in the state, including in a Nordstrom in Walnut Creek, California, terminal calendar week.

LA THIEVES ATTACK SECURITY GUARD IN CALIFORNIA'Southward LATEST Nail-AND-GRAB

The robbers reportedly fled in cars waiting in the parking lot. Police stopped a automobile with no plates later that night and detained four individuals who may be tied to the robbery.

A group of five suspects stole about $25,000 in expensive purses from a Nordstrom shop in the Westfield Topanga mall in Los Angeles on the eve of Thanksgiving. While a large group too entered a Bottega Veneta in the Beverly Grove section of Los Angeles on Friday and used a chemical agent against 1 person who tried to stop them as they stole high-end trade.

By tardily Friday evening, the Los Angeles Police force Department was on a citywide tactical warning. The alarm has since been lifted.

NEWSOM TELLS CALIFORNIA MAYORS TO 'STEP UP' AFTER MOB OF LOOTERS MAKE SIX-Figure NORDSTROM HEIST

A Los Angeles Police Officer Badge.

A Los Angeles Police Officer Badge. (iStock)

In Monterey, a group of about four people stole an estimated $30,000 worth of sunglasses from a Sunglass Hut. In San Francisco, thieves between the ages of 14 and 18 took more $20,000 from an Apple tree store in broad daylight on Midweek.

The crimes have also poured into other areas in the country, including in Chicago where constabulary say thieves threw a cinderblock through a Canada Goose shop between midnight and 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving and took merchandise. 3 other nail-and-grabs unfolded in the city, where thieves targeted a Foot Locker, a North Face store and a cell phone shop.

DOZENS OF SAN FRANCISCO AREA STORES, PHARMACIES Hit BY SMASH-AND-GRAB LOOTERS: 'HURTS Us ALL'

It is unclear if the robberies are connected or how much trade was stolen. Chicago police force are investigating.

In suburban Minneapolis, a large group of at to the lowest degree thirty people targeted a Best Buy in Burnsville, while a group of 10-12 people, including juveniles, targeted some other Best Buy in Maplewood. No one has been arrested in connection to the incidents as of Saturday and in that location are no estimates on how much trade was stolen.

"Across the board, retailers are getting more concerned with this growing trend. … It is definitely a tough problem to solve, given the organized nature and number of people involved in many of the incidents," Chris Walton, a former Target executive who co-leads retail blog and podcast Omni Talk, said of the incidents, according to Star Tribune.

The most tragic incident unfolded in California, when an Oakland security guard was fatally shot during an armed robbery while protecting a news crew covering a previous smash-and-catch theft.

SAN FRANCISCO GUARD, A Erstwhile COP, SHOT AND KILLED PROTECTING NEWS CREW COVERING A SMASH-AND-Catch

This undated photo provided by the Town of Colma Police Department, in California, shows former Officer Kevin Nishita. Nishita, a retired police officer and armed guard who provided security for many reporters in the region, was shot in the abdomen during an attempted robbery of KRON-TV's camera equipment in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021. The news crew was covering a recent smash-and-grab robbery of a clothing store. Parts of California have been struck by a rash of organized retail thefts in which bands of thieves break into high-end stores and snatch merchandise. (Brandon Vaccaro/Colma Police Department via AP) A security guard protecting a San Francisco television news crew was shot Wednesday during an attempted armed robbery, authorities said.  (KTVU)

This undated photo provided by the Town of Colma Police Department, in California, shows one-time Officer Kevin Nishita. Nishita, a retired police officer and armed guard who provided security for many reporters in the region, was shot in the abdomen during an attempted robbery of KRON-Tv set's camera equipment in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, November. 24, 2021. The news crew was covering a recent smash-and-catch robbery of a clothing store. Parts of California accept been struck by a rash of organized retail thefts in which bands of thieves break into high-end stores and snatch trade. (Brandon Vaccaro/Colma Police force Section via AP) A security baby-sit protecting a San Francisco television news crew was shot Wednesday during an attempted armed robbery, authorities said.  (KTVU)

"It is with the deepest sadness that I permit you know security guard Kevin Nishita has passed away," said Mark Neerman, vice president of news and news director at KPIX. "He died protecting 1 of our ain, a colleague reporting on the very violence that took his life. I know y'all join me in sending condolences to his family and in sending cheers to Kevin for standing upward for united states all."

He was shot in the abdomen during an attempted robbery of KRON-TV's camera equipment on Wednesday and later died from his injuries.

iii SUSPECTS IN CUSTODY AFTER Blast-AND-GRAB ROBBERY AT NORDSTROM Store AT THE GROVE, LAPD SAYS

Nishita was a San Jose police officeholder from 2001-2012 and was working equally an armed guard for Star Protection Agency at the time of his decease. He leaves backside his married woman, two children and three grandchildren. A reward of $32,500 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest in the killing.

Boom-and-grab robberies accept plagued California in the final week, with most of the incidents occurring in stores near San Francisco and Los Angeles.

In Walnut Creek, which is located about 25 miles from SF, roughly 80 looters stormed a Nordstrom and took somewhere between $100,000 to $200,000 in merchandise, according to police.

Mobs of thieves ransacked at to the lowest degree two dozen San Francisco area businesses over terminal weekend.

"At to the lowest degree two dozen businesses were impacted," Oakland Law Chief LeRonne Armstrong told CBS SF. "Roving caravans of vehicles, targeting cannabis operations, retail shops, pharmacies, throughout the urban center of Oakland."

The crimes also extended to San Jose, about l miles from San Francisco, where at to the lowest degree four people stole $40,000 from a Lululemon in an incident described by police equally "organized robbery."

Gov. Gavin Newsom has called on California mayors to "step up" and hold the mobs of shoplifters to "account" following the repeated crimes.

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a news conference after receiving a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine booster shot at Asian Health Services in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. Also pictured are Assemblymember Mia Bonta, third from bottom right, Supervisor Wilma Chan and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, right. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) 

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a news conference after receiving a Moderna COVID-19 vaccine booster shot at Asian Health Services in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. Also pictured are Assemblymember Mia Bonta, third from bottom right, Supervisor Wilma Chan and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, right. (AP Photograph/Jeff Chiu) 

"I'm not the mayor of California, but I was a mayor, and I know when things like this happen, mayors take to step up," Newsom said Monday at a vaccine clinic in the Mission District of San Francisco. "That'due south not an indictment. That's not a cheap shot."

"These people need to exist held to account," Newsom added. "We need to investigate these crimes. We need to break up these law-breaking rings. We need to make an example out of these folks."

In San Francisco, Mayor London Brood announced that the city will limit machine access ahead of vacation shopping flavour to the urban center's popular shopping district, Matrimony Square, in response to the mobs of thieves.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 17: San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks during a news conference outside of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital with essential workers to mark the one year anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdown on March 17, 2021 in San Francisco, California. San Francisco has some of the lowest number of coronavirus cases and death rates in the country with only 422 deaths in a city with a population near 900,000. 

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 17: San Francisco Mayor London Breed speaks during a news briefing outside of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital with essential workers to marking the one year anniversary of the COVID-nineteen lockdown on March 17, 2021 in San Francisco, California. San Francisco has some of the everyman number of coronavirus cases and death rates in the country with simply 422 deaths in a city with a population nigh 900,000. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Some police and retailers pointed to California's Proposition 47 for the increase in crimes, which reduced shoplifting charges regarding the theft of $950 or less from felonies to misdemeanors.

In 2018, state legislators passed a temporary police in response to complaints surrounding the police, which established a new criminal offense of organized retail theft. A California Highway Patrol task force was also created to help assist areas with high instances of such crimes. The law expired at the start of this year, however, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

CLICK Hither TO Go THE FOX NEWS APP

"I call back what happens now is in that location's no accountability for it anymore, and the liability for the stores if they try to apprehend these guys. They just stand past and sentinel," Steve Reed, a retired police officer and the sometime head of security at Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento, told ABC 10.