Looters On Scooters Attempted To Ransack Evacuated LA Homes As Wildfires Raged, Resident Says

“A hundred” scooter-riding thieves attempted to rob multiple homes evacuated due to the wildfires ripping through Southern California, a woman told KTLA on Thursday.

Allison Agsten, a Los Angeles-area resident, said her neighbor witnessed the suspects trying to “get into any and all houses” in her neighborhood. Attempting to thwart burglaries, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsomannounced the deployment of 8,000 California National Guard troops to secure fire-ravaged zones Thursday after Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said his department arrested 20 people on suspicion of looting affected areas.

“We just started seeing all these cars pull up,” Agsten told the outlet. “Doors open, and groups of men are running up our street, going up to the doors of these houses … my next-door neighbor said, his quote, ‘there were like a hundred people that came up on scooters and were trying to get into any and all houses.’”

“Our cameras saw three men on scooters immediately turn around when they saw police,” Madisen Keavy, a reporter for KCAL News, said Wednesday. “I talked with a homeowner. She said she thinks she will be leaving soon, but is making sure her house is as safe as it could be.”

Multiple California officials have promised severe consequences for those convicted of theft or burglary amid the wildfires, which have forced some 180,000 Southern California residents from their homes, Luna said.