The plans to break into, vandalize, and steal from Philadelphia businesses on Tuesday night were not much of a secret. As word spread that a Philadelphia judge had dismissed all criminal charges against the former police officer who shot and killed Eddie Irizarry last month, people took to Instagram to share their anger and plan a response.
“WHAT TIME WE GOING “SHOPPING”???” one person asked. “We looting or not??!!” wrote another. “I know they say tearing up our stuff ain’t right,” someone said, “but that’s the only way they hear us.”
Before the night was over, police said, groups had broken into businesses across Philadelphia, stealing, ransacking, and leaving destruction in their wake.
Dozens of people — including what police described as a caravan of “criminal opportunists” — broke into stores along popular shopping corridors from Center City to the Northeast to West Philadelphia, authorities said.
They broke through metal door protectors and spliced locks with bolt cutters, then looted the stores and fled with electronics, shoes, clothes, liquor, pharmaceuticals, and other goods.
By morning, 52 people had been arrested, including three juveniles, police said. Most were charged with burglary and theft, prosecutors said, and one person faces charges of illegal gun possession. Police said most people arrested were between the ages of 18 and 22; their identities had not yet been released.
According to MSN, The damage was not as severe as what the city endured in 2020, when some stores were burned amid unrest that spanned multiple days and nights, but it left business owners again sweeping up broken glass and damaged merchandise throughout the morning.
Shoe and clothing racks at JD Sports in the Roosevelt Mall were mostly bare, and a sign on the door read “closed until further notice.” Fine Wine & Good Spirits announced that all of its stores would close Wednesday after 18 locations were broken into.
“Basically, people saw an opportunity and they took it,” said Benjamin Nachum, manager of Patriot Pharmacy in North Philly, which was looted Tuesday night for the third time since it opened in 2019.
The groups took to the streets after Municipal Court Judge Wendy L. Pew dismissed all charges against Mark Dial, who was a Philadelphia Police officer when he was charged with murder for shooting Irizarry on Aug. 14. Dial, a five-year veteran of the force, shot Irizarry, 27, six times as he sat in his parked car, the windows rolled up and a knife in his hand, in Kensington after police saw him driving erratically.
Prosecutors said the officer’s decision to use lethal force was criminal, but Pew said they did not present enough evidence to support that and threw out the case. The DA’s Office quickly petitioned to refile the charges.
Irizarry’s heartbroken family denounced the judge’s decision and staged a peaceful protest on Tuesday evening outside City Hall.
Interim Police Commissioner John Stanford made clear in a news conference Tuesday night that Irizarry’s supporters had nothing to do with the unrest that followed. He called the young people who looted “criminal opportunists” who were not affiliated with the earlier gathering and said they were taking “advantage of a situation” and trying “to destroy our city.”
