WATCH: Suspect with Pickaxe Exits L.A. Store with Basket of Liquor, Police Say

A suspect carrying a pickaxe entered a Los Angeles Rite Aid store Wednesday and reportedly left with a basket of liquor, authorities told Fox News on Thursday.

Customers inside the Venice Beach store watched the woman come in the store with the tool at approximately 3:00 p.m., police noted.

Fox 11 cited authorities and reported she allegedly threatened employees when they tried to take her basket of merchandise.

“As of Thursday morning, police were still searching for the pickaxe-wielding suspect. No one was hurt in the bizarre incident,” the Fox 11 article read.

Video footage showed the suspect walking past customers entering the store with the pickaxe slung over her shoulder. At one point, she appeared to drag her basket on the floor, then peruse products on display:

Additional footage shared online appeared to show employees speaking to her:

PROP 47 IN ACTION: Woman robs Rite Aid, threatens employees and customers with pick axe over her shoulder in Venice Beach. Another Mike Bonin voter hard at work on the Westside. pic.twitter.com/KD476AbUj1

— STREET PEOPLE OF LOS ANGELES (@streetpeopleLA) December 23, 2021

Earlier this month, a Los Angeles Police Department detective warned people not to visit the city while smash-and-grab and follow-home robberies surged in the area, Fox 11 reported:

Jamie McBride is also the director of the Los Angeles Police Protective League. In an appearance on FOX News Monday, McBride told anchors that he’s, “telling people ‘don’t visit because we don’t think we can keep you safe right now,’” comparing Los Angeles to the movie The Purge, “but instead of 24 hours to commit your crime, they have 365 days.”

McBride blamed the crime surge on things like Proposition 47, which changed sentencing guidelines, as well as the state’s zero-bail policy, which he said puts criminals back on the street, “faster than the officers can finish the report.”

Meanwhile, California Democrats have recently changed their stance, saying the crime surge must end and police were needed to accomplish the task.

“It’s time that the reign of criminals who are destroying our city, it is time for it to come to an end,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed stated when announcing updated public safety measures.

“And it comes to an end when we take the steps to be more aggressive with law enforcement … and less tolerant of all the bullshit that has destroyed our city,” she added.

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