Multiple fires set in San Leandro after night of looting
Multiple fires set in San Leandro
Late Sunday, several stores at the Marina Square Shopping Center were hit hard by people who broke in and ran out with merchandise. The Nike clearance store there was trashed and the inside was ransacked and shoeboxes lay all around the parking lot. Sara Zendehnam reports.
SAN LEANDRO, Calif. - Alameda County emergency crews have been busy for the last couple of hours between putting out two fires and dealing with the aftermath of looters.
Late Sunday, several stores at the Marina Square Shopping Center were hit hard by people who broke in and ran out with merchandise. The Nike clearance store there was trashed and the inside was ransacked and shoeboxes lay all around the parking lot.
Multiple Fed Ex trucks, Talbots and Nordstrom Rack were just some of the others damaged.
At about 5:30 a.m., cameras spotted some people still running into a store coming out with their hands full of items and jumping in a car that was waiting right outside.
SIGN UP FOR THE KTVU NEWSLETTER
Vanessa Fifita was emotional when she saw the damage.
"What is this? Because of what? Why? This is devastating to people. They’re going to be scared to come out," she said. "Especially the elderly."
Meanwhile, in San Leandro, firefighters dealt with two separate fires on Sunday night and Monday morning.
The Walmart on Davis Street is seriously damaged after a fire broke out there. The flames were intense and at one point propane tanks were exploding but thankfully no one was hurt.
The department says they were reports of people breaking in and stealing things at the Walmart before the fire started but they couldn’t say if the fire was connected to that incident.
About five miles away, firefighters had to put out another fire at a storage facility on Hesperian Boulevard.
The battalion chief says the fire started on the side of a strip mall and spread to the back of a storage unit.
No other buildings were damaged and no one was hurt.
The department couldn’t say yet whether the two fires are connected or if they were intentionally set.