Mob of youths rob Baltimore 7-Eleven store, punch manager, police say

(CBS/WJZ) BALTIMORE - A mob of youths stormed a downtown 7-Eleven Wednesday, allegedly punching the owner and stealing candy, according to the Baltimore Sun.

A nationwide 7-Eleven free Slurpee giveaway brought 35 to 40 kids into the Light Street store around 1:30 p.m, reports CBS affiliate WJZ.

"It was a lot of kids and they were out of control," said Kesha Chester, who was at the store at the time.

While some kids lined up for the free Slurpee, witnesses saw other kids raiding the candy shelves.

"They went in, they started going everywhere in the store, grabbing things and then they just ran out. And I knew that they didn't buy it because they just ran out," Kendra Mellerson said. "They ran that way and they ran that way. And the guy was trying to come out and stop them but they couldn't because there was so many."

After some kids ran away, a store manager blocked the door to keep the rest of the kids from leaving. But those kids got so mad that the door was blocked and they started punching the store manager.

"Yes, they really started hitting that guy and he couldn't keep getting beat on so he eventually let them out. And then they just ran," Mellerson said.

According to the Sun, the store's owner, Salman Iqbal, told police that an envelope of the day's receipts containing $6,600 also went missing during the chaos.

What happened at the store is the latest example of large groups of young people creating havoc in downtown Baltimore.

On St. Patrick's Day, police broke up several fights and disturbances as crowds of teens gathered in the Inner Harbor. That same night, another group beat and robbed a tourist.