Photo by Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
Masked men robbed and looted a renowned luxury department store in Germany on Saturday, injuring shoppers as they stormed through the bustling aisles amid a cloud of tear gas.Four armed men reportedly burst in through a side door of Berlin's KaDeWe at around 10:30am local time. They sprayed a guard with tear gas, and then proceeded to shatter and ransack glass cabinets containing jewelry and expensive watches, German newspaper Deutsche Welle reported. Eleven people received medical treatment for tear gas inhalation.
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When all you want to do is eat and shop and — Carole Rosenblat (@DropMeAnywhere)December 20, 2014
How a French robber almost got away with the perfect heist. Read more here.Authorities launched a manhunt across the city after the bandits fled, the Associated Press reported. Video footage showed police massed outside the posh retail mecca after the incident.The 107-year-old KaDeWe — short for "Kaufhaus des Westens," or "Department Store of the West" — is a tourist destination that welcomes about 18,000 customers daily. The amenities include "luxurious beauty rooms and lounges," a gourmet oyster bar, a "tailor, hairdressers, buggy service rental," and more, according to the store's website.Went to go shopping and got there right after the robbery — Carole Rosenblat (@DropMeAnywhere)December 20, 2014
The $5 million violin and the telltale taser: Inside an epically stupid crime. Read more here.Thieves have targeted the store — dubbed a "temple of consumption" by the German media — about once every decade or so, Deutsche Welle reported."We are forced to think of the concerned employees and customers — for whom it is always a shock," Nils Busch-Petersen, the CEO of the Berlin-Brandenburg Trade Association, told Deutche Welle.It's unclear how much was stolen in the heist, but police told Deutsche Welle "there has been some loot."Follow Meredith Hoffman on Twitter:@merhoffmanArmed Ambush on — meh (@birkinbag7)December 20, 2014