Tipsheet

Bay Area Councilman Has Keys, Wallet Stolen While Speaking to Shopkeepers About Safety

Madeline Leesman
Madeline Leesman  |  August 31, 2023 3:15 PM

A councilman in California’s Bay Area was speaking to shopkeepers about safety when he had his wallet and keys stolen, according to a report from CBS Bay Area. 

Reportedly, Emeryville council member Kalimah Priforce rode his bike to Bay Street to spend the afternoon “visiting nearly every store to ask employees about their experience and sense of safety.” 

"A lot of stores that can't afford private guards, they need panic buttons, a direct line to the police, so they don't actually have to pick up the phone, call the police dispatch," explained Priforce.  

While he was at the mall, Priforce phoned police because he discovered his wallet and keys were stolen from his bike bag. 

"The thing is that they're not going to get much from it, I am on a politician's budget," he reportedly told the outlet.

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According to CBS, the mall had been swarmed with “multiple groups of teens brawling” and caused workers at some stores to lock themselves in their stock rooms. 

"I would definitely say they were very worried," the store manager of a Bath and Body Works, said of her employees. 

Police reportedly said the mayhem started with “about 50 teens” in one store before it escalated outside. A local AMC theater asked attendees to evacuate. One gunshot was fired and one juvenile was reportedly stabbed.

In a video on X, formerly known as Twitter, Priforce said that young people are being “gentrified out” of their spaces and that’s what is causing them to act out. 

“They are being pushed out,” he claimed, and said that it’s “coming out as anger” and they “entertain themselves with these fights.”