NATICK, Mass. — In Massachusetts, popular shopping malls, still mostly closed by the COVID-19 pandemic, are on high alert for vandals and looters.
On Monday, law enforcement monitoring social media sites gleaned credible intelligence that groups of people were trying to target shopping malls.
Natick Police Chief James Hicks tells me the Natick Mall on Route 9 was specifically mentioned in intelligence.
“The threat we had was (that vandals) would be going into the malls in order to wreak havoc and possibly loot some of the high-end stores,” Chief Hicks said.
Late Monday afternoon, Natick Police noticed a traffic increase in the closed mall’s parking lots.
Up to 50 cars, many with New York license plates, were moving through the lots at a time, raising suspicions of responding police officers.
Natick Police say many of the drivers came from Lawrence and Lowell.
Later, police say a large number of people walking towards the mall along footpaths and police stepped in to keep them away from the mall.
“They would have overrun us,” Chief Hicks said. “They would have gotten us to the point where we couldn’t keep them from getting inside the building. And once inside the building, they could have done some damage.”
Hours later, vandals and looters hit the Providence Place Mall.
Massachusetts State Police sent troopers and its Airwing to help secure the Rhode Island State House and to help RI police track down robbery suspects.
The MSP intervention led to arrests and the seizure of two guns.
Back in Natick, police think some of the people they encountered at the mall, could be the same people who hit Providence Place Mall.
Twenty-four hours later, the police consider the threat still active, and they remain on high alert.
“We were very lucky. Things came together very quickly,” said Natick Police Operations Chief Lt. Cara Rossi, Operations. “We were able to prevent what we saw happening in Providence and other cities. That’s not to say we let our guard down. We’re ready.”
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