By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) – Black Friday shoppers were not the only ones looking for deals on the following day. The thieves were also busy.

Los Angeles Police and Los Angeles City police spent a lot of Friday patrolling the streets looking for possible suspects in flash mob robberies. These robberies were part of a growing U.S. trend that sees thieves invade stores and steal their goods before running away.

The trend has also been described by authorities using the term “smashand-grab”.

Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported at least two of these robberies on Saturday. KCAL-TV reported that there were six smash-and-grab thefts in the west end of Los Angeles on Friday.

A group of eight men entered the building in one instance. Home Depot The sheriff’s department said that the outlet was located at Lakewood shopping center, just south of Los Angeles. They walked straight to the tool aisle, grabbed a few hammers, shovels, and crowbars, and then made their escape.

According to KTTV Los Angeles television station, Home Depot robbery was carried out by up to 20 people who drove up to the store with as many as 10 cars. Then they donned ski masks and stole the tool aisle.

Luis Romo, a store worker said that they tried to stop them. “They closed our front doors and put up their sledgehammers. They were going to harm anyone who tried to get in,” Luis Romo, a store employee, told KTTV.

According to the Los Angeles City News Service, four of those involved in the robbery were taken into custody by Beverly Hills police on Saturday.

A similar attack occurred in Fairfax on Friday afternoon. Ten men or more entered a shop and demanded merchandise. They then forced employees to leave the area before running away, according the LAPD.

An LAPD spokesperson stated that police are looking into possible connections between the incident and several other retail thefts and robberies on Friday, as well as two smash-and grabs that were reported Wednesday.

Retail crime was so severe that the LAPD had to put its officers under tactical alert across the entire city.

Mass robberies were also reported at Best Buy electronics stores, Minneapolis-St. Paul, on Friday. One of the robberies involved as many as 30 people, and another spree of retail burglaries was under investigation in Chicago.

Walnut Creek police were looking for 80 suspects after a massive flash mob ransacked and robbed a department store in Walnut Creek.