“There was so much pepper spray in the air,” recalled Ryan Benson, a victim of the teen mob. Grappling with the memory, he feels for the troubled youth but insists that “we can’t just decide that it’s not happening.”
Los Angeles recently felt the wrath of another teen biker mob at a Ralphs on Vermont Avenue and Adams Street, by the University of Southern California. The April 19 assault left patrons mortified, and was only one in a string of invasions that have plagued LA since last year.
“Get the f— out of the way!” screamed Ryan Benson, as a teenage onslaught swamped him and his partner. The couple fled the Ralphs when the attack began, but the hooligans quickly took over the parking lot next. Following them to their car, they taunted them, “You guys gay?”
Benson was one of many LA residents who came under aggressive acts of harassment and violence by a flash mob of 80 to 90 kids, who arrived at the store and proceeded to senselessly throw rocks and bottles at customers and grocery employees indiscriminately. They released pepper spray and completely immobilized the staff, overwhelming everyone else with “coughing, sneezing, [and] hiding their face under their shirt.”
As the juvenile delinquents bum rushed the helpless victims inside of the Ralphs, they continued to steal as much inventory from the shelves as they could, carrying off alcohol in their shirts among other things. Bystanders were met with screaming and expletives. One individual even reported to police they had been struck in the head with a “bag of ice cream.”
Like everyone else, Benson and his partner jammed right out of there. The teens then stalked them, pelting them with “homophobic slurs, hitting the car, [and] throwing bottles.” Failing to shoo them away, they ultimately cut their losses and escaped with their lives.
The absolute blitzkrieg University Park was hit with is the latest in a dreadful series of similar street invasion smash-and-grabs in the LA area. Emerging from a handful of reported cases of lootings at 7/11 stores in Hollywood over the summer, the crisis soon exploded throughout the remainder of 2024.
The chaos seems unending. Hardly a week into 2025, teen bikers swarmed a Mercedes in Mid-Wilshire, vandalizing it when the driver abandoned ship. Just this February, in Beverly Hills two juveniles jumped another motorist and beat him to the ground.
“I understand these are children, but they’re doing really scary things and we can’t just decide that it’s not happening,” weighed Benson, who alleged he has now received death threats on social media, supposedly from his attackers.
LAPD has stated that they have made no arrests yet in connection to the mob at University Park, but suspect that the teens involved may be linked to the similar 7/11 attacks last year.
