At least 20 people have been arrested for looting evacuated homes in Los Angeles, as wildfires continue to rage across the city. Among those arrested were two individuals who were caught posing as firefighters, according to Capt. Mike Lorenz of the Los Angeles Police Department.
“Looting is becoming a big issue, and the number of arrests keeps growing,” Lorenz said. “We even arrested two people who were pretending to be firefighters, going in and out of houses.”
Two men were also arrested outside Vice President Kamala Harris’s home in Brentwood, a neighborhood now within the evacuation zone. Police detained the men early Saturday for violating the curfew after receiving a report of a potential burglary. However, the LAPD later released them after finding no evidence of a crime. It’s still unclear what the men were doing on the property or if the situation will be further investigated.
In response to the chaos, some Los Angeles residents are reportedly hiring private security to protect their homes.
Meanwhile, the wildfires, which have now been burning across the city, have killed at least 16 people and damaged or destroyed up to 12,000 structures. About 150,000 people have been forced to evacuate, and another 13 people are still missing.
