TLDR: Either learn to read for 45 seconds or go back to burning the last two braincells you have on tiktok.

::Update:: After speaking with security and Bloomingdale staff on Sunday, the thieves made out with around $150,000 with of goods, but due to my lackluster effort they dropped $30k worth of stuff. There was an armed guard posted outside the entrance where this all went down on Friday, I ask him, "I'm assuming you aren't allowed to go hands on with these people, correct?" to which he replied, "Yes." Apparently these scumbags went directly from South Coast Plaza to Fashion Island in Newport Beach and hit them shortly afterwards. The vehicle they used was a rental with fake CC and ID provided to rent it. Mother fuckers. Fuck this state, fuck ineffective "security", fuck every enabler that has lead our current society to this rotten hellhole it currently sits in.

Went shopping with my mother and step father for my wife's upcoming birthday at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa CA today. For the majority of ya'll that have never heard of that place, it's one of the two higher end malls in Orange County, 15 minutes from Newport Beach, all the top end brands, every high-end watch manufacture (PP, Vacheron Constantin, A. Lange & Söhne, Rolex, etc). The clientele is predominately Chinese, lots of money, we walked by a Maybach parked in the middle of all the other pleb cars on the way in, I parked in the middle of nowhere next to five Porsches. After completing our shopping and grabbing a bite to eat we made our way out to the exit we entered from near Bloomingdales. Around 100 feet before the hallway that leads to the exit, I witnessed approximately six black males in hoodies and black covid masks enter from the exit we were planning on leaving though. Their attire and masks were a big red flag as no one is wearing masks around here it was rather warm today. As we got closer to our exit, and the entrance to Bloomingdales, the youths entered Bloomingdales went from a casual saunter to leaping over a roped off section just inside Bloomingdales. I wasn't sure if they were just messing around or they were up to no good. I saw a few security guards start to attempt to close off some sliding walls, apparently to no avail.

We finally are at the hall where we either go right, into Bloomingdales, or left to the exit. Where I was standing the entrance to Bloomingdales was 30 feet to my right and the door to exit the mall were 70 feet to my left. I am basically right in the middle of the aisle that leads to the exit. The next thing I know I see two of the males running directly towards the exit, and by virtue of where I was standing, running directly at me. Their arms were full of high-end purses and bags. For whatever moronic reason, something in my head snapped and my inner voice said something dumb to the effect of, 'not today." The lead runner ran to my left, between the hallway wall and myself. I dropped my packages, took a few running steps and put that gentleman into the wall and subsequent trashcan that he went ass over teakettle into. He collected himself and continued towards the exit. Then I see the remaining gentlemen (5-6 of them?), all with arms covered in purses and bags, running toward me with my mom and stepdad in between us. I took aim at the lead runner of the second pack and had to cover about 15 feet back to my right to put him into the glass window of whatever clothing store was on the corner. He fell on his face then scrambled to recover with me on top of him. As I was on the ground, one of the upstanding citizens that was behind this dude that I was on top of either jumped over me and his foot hit my head, or he intentionally kneed me in the back of the head. I can't be too sure as I never saw it coming.  He called me some name as he passed me, can’t recall what it was.

The first hit was no big deal, the other guy got the brunt of it, this second hit rung my bell but good, I was pretty shocked once contact was made, and the blow I took to the head wasn't fantastic either. The fist guy I made contact with was around 5"10 - 6' ish, maybe 150-165lbs, the second dude was taller and heavier as the impact was much greater. For reference I am 5'10" 210, not in bad shape but could be a damn sight better, I use to be a personal trainer back in the day and also played hockey a ton, but age and injury have taken a toll over the last 15 years. I'm 43, my mom and step dad are 69. At some point after I made contact with the first guy my stepdad decided to get into the mix, I guess he tried to tackle one of the guys to some degree of success and hold him. The guy he grabbed wiggled away and escaped. The fleeing track stars dropped around 10 bags in total as a result of the scuffle.

I gathered myself up, made sure my EDC blade was still on my person (CA so having a CCW is a joke) as my EDC flashlight had come out in the skirmish and was on the ground. It was at this point my rational brain kicked in to take a better picture of the situation and regain some semblance of situational awareness. My mother was screaming obscenities at the youths as they made their way out of the exit. The 6 or so security guards finally made their way over to use to see if we were ok. They never intervened in the situation as it unfolded, as I'm sure they are forbidden to do. About 10-20 seconds after the dust had settled two of the security guards ran out the doors of the exit in some form of pursuit, and apparently, they said they were able to get the plates on the getaway vehicle. I'm sure as stupid as the thieves are, the car was either stolen or had swapped plates, who knows. The guards told us that they were expecting to be hit by this group, but just didn't know when as I guess this gang of winners have been making the rounds hitting other stores in the area.

A small crowd gathered and various people came up to us to see if we were ok, "thanked" us for trying to do something, and a few of the people expressed how sick they are of stuff like this happening and nothing being done about it. There was one funny older Asian lady, all 4'10" of her, yelling about how these people shouldn't be getting away with this stuff. The security guards gave us a few ice packs, took our names and DOBs and shook our hands and we were on our way. No on requested us to stay or take any statements. No PD was on site as we were leaving. I did jokingly ask the security guards if I could get a clip of what just happened for YouTube.

My step dad hit his knee when he fell, but was not worse for wear. When I fell after making contact with the second individual I hit my right anklebone, skinned my right knee on the polished marble floor, bruised my right hip and skinned my right elbow. My neck and head are killing me as the whiplash from the second hit was substantial, having an already jacked up C-spin from a rear-ending accident years ago isn't doing me any favors at this point.

Looking back on what happened, I would have not intervened if the suspects had all come out as one group, but seeing two guys making a break for it I thought I might be able to do some good. When the second group came out, I figured I was already in this deep, might as well keep swimming. I know this was probably not the right course of action to take. I am not some billy bad ass, no military/LEO background, no MMA wannabe, just some regular dude who is sick and tired of seeing the highlight reel of these losers robbing places blind. The second guy to pass me after I made the hit on the second pack leader could have easily put a blade in my neck or a bullet in my head. I was realizing this fact as I was getting up off the ground.

To be honest I'm not even sure why I am typing this, I'm not looking for recognition or anything, I guess at best it's for posterity so I can remember the sequence of events should I need to remember this in the future correctly. I guess it's also to ask the question of anyone who has read this far, if you were in the same situation would you have attempted to do anything? General thoughts on my less than stellar idea to intervene?

Should I bother contacting the cities PD to make a statement? Better to not talk to PD? My life's interaction with police has been limited to a speeding ticket when I was 19.


Thanks for listening, I'm going to go back to my ice packs, Advil and the hole I've been living in for the last 5 years.

ETA: FWIW and the race bingo card, I'm white as is my mother and my stepdad is half white half Mexican.

EETA: Not MS paint, just snipping tool.

EEETA: For total clarity, I never threw a punch or kick, simply placed me person, mainly my shoulder, in front of the fleeing rocket scientists.





Red X is me, blue X is first contact, green X is second contact.

Wall of text.

Glad you’re sort of ok.

pics and/or MS paint needed.

Thread has potential, in on one!

I'm glad you're ok, and fuck yeah! glad you got some!

DA gonna prosecute your ass for harming the perps.

It’s Orange County. You can get a CCW. You should have stuck around for the cops. The DA is really sick of LA county thugs going to OC for crime.   That they use force against you escalated their shoplifting / organized retail theft to Robbery.

You’re fine.

Do you know the Orange County DA? He used to be a reserve cop. I’ve known him for 30-years. OP has nothing to worry about.

There’s a reason the rest of California says OC is “behind the Orange curtain”. It’s a different version of California.

Glad you're ok.

Good effort, shame there were no rooftop Koreans to finish the scum as they made their exit to the kill zone AKA: the parking lot.

Good for you man. Thanks for standing up for what's right.

I wouldn't have risked my safety over purses, but I applaud OP's efforts.

You're lucky they didn't ghetto stomp all of you to death while everyone else watched and recorded it on their phone.

Next time you gotta blade at 45

The store whose money you saved likely donated to the politicians that made those thefts possible.

Well, that was dumb.  Do you has qualified immunity?  That's the only way I get involved these days is under color of office and that's really not enough some times.  

Society wants these robbing little scumbags to run amok.  I could never ever advise a citizen to get involved in anything that wasn't their personal business.  It's just not worth it.  The System does not have your back.

For those unfamiliar with with California law. The cops cannot arrest for most misdemeanors unless it was committed in their presence. As such, California has robust “citizen arrest” laws which they typically call private persons arrests. When the thieves resisted the OPs attempt to effect a citizens arrest they escalated the crime to strong arm robbery.

Lolz.   Yeah, not the smartest move, but you’ll always have an Awesome story..ie..”remember that time I tackled two thieves”?  

..get a lawyer to write a letter requesting a copy of the video.  

Maybe one of the Arf lawyers can help you out.  

Good for You OP.    If everyone went instant Sheepdog like that, we’d have less crime.

Given that these stores shit can their employees for intervening, it wouldn't surprise me if a random good samaritan would face legal consequences.

Very fond memories of going to South coast plaza back in the summer of 84. Westminster Mall too.

I happen to be in that mall now.  I’m armed though and wouldn’t intervene unless it was a threat to me or my family.  As much as I hate thieves, it’s just not worth it for a property crime.  But, that’s me.  Glad it worked out for you.

Attached File

Used to be a great knife store there. Dinner at Flemings and buy a new Spyderco

Good job.

Pretty cool story, but I don't know if that was the best thing to do. I'm glad you didn't get hurt.

I always liked that mall. Used to go to the Rainforest Cafe that was there whenever we had kids with us

"VOL CANE NOOO!"

Avatar is...appropriate

Those business owners and their clientele probably voted for the politicians that got you CA gun control.

If I were to describe most CA Chinese, disgraced former state senator Leland Yee is a perfect match for them. He lobbied heavily for gun control, only to get busted trying to smuggle weapons in for his cohorts.

They don't want you having guns, but will easily panic and buy them during COVID because they're afraid of everyone else having guns to begin with.

I lived in OC and still left that shit hole state. It's still California.

This thread made me smile. Congrats for getting in. Couple shots on some shitheads I think if more people would do similar it could
make a difference

If it was just you then it was ballsy.  

With family there, it was stupid.

Eh, good for you, OP. Thanks for giving it a shot.

I've gotta ask though - you mention these were blacks? Are you sure they weren't teens, or youths?

Darn right it is.

Damn, that was my mall. We’d eat at Din Tai Fung and the udon place downstairs.

It’s a high end mall, but I’d always have my CCW with me when I was there. It seemed like a high profile soft target.

Where do you live in CA, OP? I’ve had a CCW license since 2014, living in the next city over (HB).

I do not care for the personal property stolen, I do care about setting a good example for others and hopefully inspiring them to act if someone ever needed help. Good job, OP.

Protecting somebody elses property that you don't know?

TLDR. Is it worth having your wife and kids hold a funeral for you, over a loss the business's insurance would cover.

Good for you!

I wish you would’ve been able to take a few out of the gene pool.

Go ask for a Copy of the incident.   Help a brother out!

OP is a dumbass

You should delete this because if the thieves go to the cops they can prolly use this as admission and you will probably be charged with a crime.

Good on you OP. Glad someone still gives a shit. There's no way I could pick my ass crack while shit like that was going on. At 55 years old, I still remember what things used to be like.

If you’re gonna be stupid you better be tiough. Good thing you’re tough, OP.

Good on you though, for doing something. If everyone did, we’d be living in a different society.

In California, not very smart

In a perfect world you should've been able to pull out a rpg and blast the cockroaches

If even 20% of men were like OP there would be no crime.

If you think OP did wrong you are the reason we have crime. You are bad and you should feel bad.
I declare that any person critical of OP or who makes OP the butt of their joke has low T and should seek help immediately.

But can you use it?

I did a citizens arrest on a guy Monday evening here.

Threw something at my car from the center median on hwy 76. Did a u turn called 911 gave description and stuck around for the cops then helped them find him.  

He only got a misdemeanor citation, but at least it’s documented.

But in this case, the thieves had loads of high end purses and bags according to OP....which should make it a felony in itself.  According to my online search of California law, it is considered felony grand theft if the items stolen are valued at over $950 (aggregate).   I bet they more than met that threshold with even stealing just two of them.  And of course it is all so tiresome.