Shoplifting suspects pepper-spray Macy’s employees as they flee St. Clair Square
Police in Fairview Heights are searching for four suspects they say grabbed armloads of clothes from Macy’s then pepper-sprayed security guards during their escape.
Officers responded to the department store at St. Clair Square mall at 8:55 p.m. Tuesday to investigate the “grab-and-run” theft, according to a release from the Fairview Heights police.
Surveillance video from the Macy’s captured footage of a silver Chevrolet Malibu is it dropped off one of the suspects at an entrance on the north side of the building. That woman motioned back to the others, who exited the parked car and entered the store.
Macy’s employees reported that four women each grabbed a large amount of clothing and ran back toward the same door they entered.
Three of the suspects made it outside to the awaiting car, while the fourth sprayed Mace into the faces of the two security guards who had confronted them, police say. One of the guards was able to grab some of the clothing, but all four suspects got away.
Police do not know if a fifth person remained in the car, which was left running in the mostly empty parking lot, police say.
Both of the security officers declined medical treatment, according to the statement from police.
The suspects are described as:
a black female with a thin build wearing dark pants, a pink hooded sweatshirt and shoulder-length hair;
a black female with an average build wearing black Adidas joggers with white stripes down the side, a dark-colored zip-up jacket, a bright colored shirt, white tennis shoes and her hair up;
a black female with a heavier build wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt with “Adidas” written on the chest, dark-colored pants and dark-colored shoes with long braided hair worn in a ponytail;
a black female with a heavier build wearing a dark jacket, dark pants, a bright multi-colored shirt and long hair past her shoulders.
Anyone with information regarding the incident can contact the Fairview Heights Police Department by phone at 618-489-2100, by Facebook message or by leaving a tip on their website at www.fhpd.org.
This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 4:48 PM.
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