Philadelphia officials reportedly charged 72 people, including five minors and a social media influencer dubbed “Meatball,” in connection to widespread thefts from several stores ransacked across the city in late September.
“The DA and the courts need to make sure these people pay a price for what they did,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said, according to CBS.
Civil unrest in Philadelphia broke out on September 26 when dozens of people engaged in a flash mob-style looting spree fueled by social media where they smashed their way into stores and stole bags of merchandise from retail shops, including Foot Locker, Apple, and at least 18 state-run liquor stores, authorities said.
Following the night of chaos, authorities were already in process of making dozens of arrests.
Assistant District Attorney Clint Orem, the acting chief of the District Attorney’s Office’s charging unit, reported on Monday that 67 adults and five minors have been charged — most of which are burglary and theft charges.
“A robbery charge, a burglary charge, a theft charge, receiving stolen property,” Interm Philadelphia Police Commissioner John Stanford said last week. “Whatever we can possibly apply to this situation, we’re going to apply it.”
“Philadelphia is not going to be the place that you can come and do this type of behavior,” he added.
Stanford said he believes the alleged thieves were part of a “caravan of individuals” coordinated through social media to hit different locations citywide.
He singled out social media influencer Dayjia Blackwell, who goes by “Meatball,” as a possible leader of the group after she appeared to cheer on looters while livestreaming as they ransacked Philadelphia stores.
Blackwell, 21, was later arrested and charged with six felonies, including burglary, criminal trespassing, conspiracy, criminal mischief, riot with the intent to commit a felony, and criminal use of a communication facility. Authorities also charged her with two misdemeanors for allegedly receiving stolen property and hazardous conditions/physically offensive and set at $25,000, which she posted Thursday morning.
The looting in Philadelphia came hours after murder charges against former Philadelphia police officer Mark Dial were dropped. Dial was charged in the fatal shooting of Eddie Irizarry, who was holding a knife by his right leg, during a traffic stop last month. Philadelphia Municipal Judge Wendy Pew dismissed all charges, including a murder count, against Dial, determining that the shooting was justified, according to NBC 10.
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Stanford attempted to distance the rioting that eventually broke out from the protests earlier in the day, calling the looters “opportunists.”
“This had nothing to do with the protests. What we had tonight was a bunch of criminal opportunists,” Stanford said.
“These were not protesters, these were criminals,” he added.
Zach Jewell contributed to this report.