A shopping trip for customers at Tanger Outlets Nashville went wrong after a group of thieves broke into a perfume store.
A TikTok user (@ptodropout) posted a video obtained by WSMV4 of four individuals who robbed Perfumania in Antioquia establishments on June 2.
A security guard and several shoppers kept the door closed while the incident occurred and trapped the thieves inside while they waited for police.
But the thieves managed to escape by breaking down a back door before police arrived.
Four thieves attempted to rob Perfumania at Tanger Outlets Nashville in Antioch on June 2 after attempting to rob the store earlier that week.
Preston, the TikToker’s son and one of the witnesses, told WSMV4 that he could hear an employee yell, “You can’t be here” right before the incident began.
“I turned around and saw three or four people walking in wearing masks and hoodies,” he told the news outlet.
“I’d never seen this happen before, so I was a little shocked. I was just doing what I thought I should do,” Preston said.
“(They were) trying to run through the store, get into the register, break the glass, get all the cologne off the shelves and stuff.”
Witnesses said they were not sure if the four were armed, but that they were between 16 and 20 years old.
The TikToker, who caught almost every event on camera, wrote in the video that it “took 30 minutes” for police to arrive at the scene.
One of the robbers who was planning to run out the door immediately turned around and ran towards the cash register.
Customers who kept the door closed began to question the police response time, with more than one saying that the police’s arrival “was taking forever.”
The shoppers kept the door closed while they waited for police officers to arrive. The robbers were initially trapped inside, but eventually escaped through an emergency door.
Preston, one of the witnesses, told WSMV4 he was in shock. His mother recorded the ordeal and posted the video on TikTok after the attempted robbery.
One of the thieves grabbed a small ladder and tried to open the emergency exit door.
They managed to open the door and, according to Preston, security guards told him that the four robbers had jumped a fence and ran towards Interstate 24.
WSVM4 obtained footage from I-24 at 3:00 pm, showing three of the suspects running on the side of the road.
They eventually jumped into one of the lanes and stopped a car, which they used as their last successful escape act.
The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department told WSMV4 on June 3 that an incident report had not been filed and that they were initially called to the media for an ongoing fight.
This incident is one of multiple robberies at Tanger Outlets Nashville, which opened in Antioch less than a year ago.
Three of the four robbers were seen running on the side of the road on I-24 before stopping the car and driving away from the scene.
Shoplifting incidents have been frequent at Tanger Outlets Nashville since November 2023. The mall first opened in October of last year.
Theft incidents at Tanger Outlets Nashville began less than a month after the mall opened on October 27, 2023.
The police said FOX 17 News in November that thieves stole thousands of dollars’ worth of Michael Kors jackets, but had obtained security footage of the incident.
The released media a declaration on social media after the robbery on the weekend of November 16.
“Downtown security programs include measures that are both visible and invisible, and all efforts are supported by local authorities,” it said.
“Tanger maintains a zero tolerance policy, which is also enforced by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department.”
Preston also mentioned concerns that arose from shoppers he was with during the attempted Perfumania robbery on June 2.
“They (shoppers and store owners) said this happened a lot in their area, like in that mall,” he told WSMV4.
‘The other people seemed very upset because they live in the area. They are just upset that this happens so often.