(CNN) At least 18 people broke into a high-end department store in Los Angeles and stole thousands of dollars in merchandise Monday night, the city's police chief said, in one of the country's latest store burglaries involving sizable groups of thieves. The group used a sledgehammer and an electric bicycle to smash a window, allowing them to enter the closed Nordstrom department store at The Grove retail complex in Los Angeles around 10:40 p.m. PT, city police said. The group, consisting of 18 to 20 people, stole at least $5,000 in merchandise and caused $15,000 in damage, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore said Tuesday at a city police commission meeting. Nearby police officers "heard the event" and saw vehicles driving away, and the officers pursued one of the vehicles, Moore said. The pursuit ended in South Los Angeles, and three people in the vehicle were arrested in connection with the burglary, Los Angeles police spokesman Officer Drake Madison told CNN.

Source: CNN November 23, 2021 22:17 UTC