The Walgreens at Castro and 18th streets was robbed Tuesday night by an organized group of smash-and-grabbers who came with garbage bags to fill.

A bystander took video of the robbery, obtained by KRON4, which shows the group of about eight young-looking, masked thieves who exited the store with an untold amount of merchandise. A photo from inside the store shows what appears to be a cosmetics aisle ransacked, with whole shelves cleared.

As with many group retail burglaries like this, no one tries to stop the thieves, and they just walk out.

Walgreens hasn't offered any comment on this — though I know from personal experience that this Walgreens does employ security guards who would typically be on duty at night.

Another Walgreens further up Castro Street, in Noe Valley, was hit with a similar burglary by about 15 suspects in November.

The report of this retail theft incident comes on the same day that Governor Gavin Newsom told a group in a Zoom meeting about being in a Target store recently where he witnessed a man walking out with goods without paying. He says he asked the clerk why she did nothing to stop him, and she said, "The governor," saying that it was him, Newsom, who "lowered the threshold" for such crimes. Then the woman realized who he was and wanted to take a picture with him.

Newsom says California has the 10th toughest law in the country when it comes to theft, with a threshold of $950 to count as a felony — which was established by Prop 47 and which is often cited for why car break-ins and retail theft are so rampant.

Photo via Google Street View