7-Eleven workers beat Cali thief for stealing shelves of tobacco

Two 7-Eleven workers in California took matters into their own hands and used a stick to wallop a man who tried to steal a trash can full of cigarettes.

Shocking video of the attempted robbery shows one employee holding the thief down on the ground while his colleague relentlessly whacks him roughly 25 times.

“Okay, okay!” the thief screamed at this attacker while pleading for mercy.

Before he was taken down by the retail workers, the robber had casually sauntered behind the California convenience store’s register with a 20-gallon trash can in tow.

He nonchalantly grabs fistfuls of tobacco products — including cigarettes, cigars and vapes — and tosses them into the bin as the off-camera workers plead for him to stop.

“Just let him go. There ain’t nothing you can do. They’re not going to do nothing,” the bystander who took the video can be heard saying, seemingly referencing the string of national thefts in which shoplifters raid shelves of supplies before walking out with their loot.

The green-and-black-clad worker switched from a defensive role when the thief tried to push past him and ordered him to move out of the way while he continued his heist.


The man loads his garbage bin.
The thief loaded a garbage can with tobacco items he lifted straight off the shelves of a 7/11.
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The employee quickly grappled with the robber and tackled him to the ground, just in time for his coworker to appear and deliver 23 brutal blows with what appears to be a broomstick.

The weapon-wielding employee takes a quick break from the whacking — while his coworker squeezes in a punch of his own to the upper back of the robber — sending the thief writhing chaotically enough to knock over this garbage-trove of stolen goods at the feet of his attacker.

“That’s called whoopin’ your a–! Whoop his a–! Get him!” the bystander says, before asking the thief if he was ready to give up the heist.

“Yeah, I’m done!” the robber pleads. “I’m going to go.”


The employee and thief argue.
The altercation turned physical when the thief tried to push past the employee who had been urging him to stop the heist.
Instagram

In spite of the surrender, the stick-wielding employee delivers two final whacks while the bystander orders the workers to free the robber.

“No more! No more!” the cameraman says as the thief screams in pain.

In subsequent videos shared by the bystander, the employees contemplate calling the police on the thief, but opt to let him walk out empty handed.

The bystander walks behind the counter and urges the workers to let the man free before berating the man himself, ordering him not to come back to the 7/11 or try stealing again.


The employee raises his arms to whack the thief.
One 7/11 employee held the thief down while his coworker whacked him with a wooden stick.
Instagram

The employee delivers a blow.
The thief screamed and pleaded as the worker whacked him 25 times.
Instagram

The thief claims he was beaten so badly that he can’t stand up and walk out on his own until the bystander calls his bluff.

“You better walk tonight,” he says while leading him out of the store.

Amid his agonized groans and pleas for his freedom, the thief then asks whether he can get a soda for the road.

“What kind of s–t you telling me? You do this s–t and you want a soda? No, no, no. Get the f–k out man,” the bystander said.


The can spills onto the floor.
The writhing robber kicked over this garbage can, sending his loot of cigarettes and cigars onto the floor.
Instagram

Though it is not entirely clear where the incident took place, lottery numbers visible at the beginning of the video indicate it happened in California.

The cameraman claims it occurred in Stockton, a city roughly 50 miles south of Sacramento, but the police department had not heard of the incident as of Wednesday night.

A representative from 7-Eleven did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.

The theft is just one of many in a growing epidemic of organized shoplifting that has affected cities across the country, including California.


The thief screams on the ground.
The robber tried to claim he was so injured during the attack that he couldn’t walk out of the store.
Instagram

Last month, three women brazenly wheeled out three shopping carts worth of stolen merchandise that they jacked from a Burlington store.

A Bay Area family hardware store announced this week that they lost a jarring $700,000 in merchandise in 2022 thanks to rampant shoplifting.

Retail theft in America has skyrocketed to $94 billion — an alarming 90% increase since 2018, according to the National Retail Federation.