Montgomery County police are investigating a flash mob theft involving about 50 young people at a Silver Spring convenience store.
Police said the incident happened at about 11:20 p.m. Saturday at the 7-Eleven located at 12257 Tech Road. A group of about 50 teenagers and young adults simultaneously ransacked the store, taking snacks and drinks.
Video posted online by the police department shows a throng of teens entering the store and grabbing all sorts of items in less than a minute.
Officers who responded to the flash mob saw groups in nearby parking lots and side streets, but the suspects fled as officers approached.
Police said a group of six people, ages 16 to 18, were stopped and questioned near Tech Road and Broadbirch Drive. All of them had items from the 7-Eleven and could not provide receipts.
The six were questioned but not arrested.
Officers didn't obtain surveillance video of the thefts until Monday, said Officer Rebecca Innocenti, a Montgomery County police spokeswoman. Innocenti said investigators "wanted to see what had actually happened during the incident" before filing charges.
No one had been charged as of Monday evening, Innocenti said.
She said she didn't know the total value of the items stolen.
Investigators believe the teens may have been attending a birthday party nearby before the flash mob.
The incident is the second time a flash mob theft has rocked a Montgomery County 7-Eleven in recent months. In August, a similar mass theft took place at a Germantown store. Seventeen teenagers have been charged in that incident.
Officials around the Washington region have said they are increasingly concerned about youth flash mob crimes and Montgomery officials have repeatedly cited the Germantown incident as a reason to support a hotly contested proposed curfew.
