North Carolina police confirmed they arrested five people Saturday night as looters began to break into stores while Tropical Storm Florence brought chaos to the region.
Wilmington Police confirmed the arrests via Twitter but
NEWS ALERT – Moments ago officers arrested five individuals who broke in and looted the Dollar General at 5th & Dawson Streets. Charges are pending and those details will be released as they become available.
— Wilmington Police (@WilmingtonPD) September 15, 2018
“Charges are pending and those details will be released as they become available,” police said.
North Carolina police said around 1:30 p.m. they were made aware of looting taking place at the Dollar General on 5th and Dawson Streets but for some reason was initially asked by the management “not to intervene at this time.”
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: @WilmingtonPD has alerted for some looting happening in #Wilmington including at this Family Dollar Store at 13th & Greenfield Sts. We just passed by and shot some video pic.twitter.com/N9CtN7RVtv
— Marta Dhanis (@MartaDhanis) September 15, 2018
Authorities later said on Twitter that they were currently working to identify the suspects and “will charge them to the fullest extent of the law.”
In response to the looting reports, the city of Wilmington extended its curfew for the affected area in a tweet:
In response to looting in the area, an extended curfew is now in place for the block between 13th, 14th, Greenfield and Martin Streets. This curfew went into effect at 5 pm and will remain in effect until 6 am. The citywide curfew will run from 10 pm until 6 am.
— Wilmington NC (@CityofWilm) September 15, 2018
“In response to looting in the area, an extended curfew is now in place for the block between 13th, 14th, Greenfield and Martin Streets. This curfew went into effect at 5 pm and will remain in effect until 6 am. The citywide curfew will run from 10 pm until 6 am.”
The National Hurricane Center said on Saturday afternoon that “catastrophic flooding” of Tropical Storm Florence is expected in certain parts of the Carolinas as Florence remained stationary over the region. At least 11 deaths have been linked to Flo so far.
UPDATE: A video has been brought to our attention:
