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Walgreens on Potrero Avenue in San Francisco. Photo: Google Street View

SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco police said they have arrested eight retail suspects as young as 12 who they believe are responsible for 23 incidents at various Walgreens stores totaling more than $84,000 in stolen merchandise.

In a press release on Thursday, police identified the oldest suspect as Brandon McClain, 18, of Hayward, who was arrested on suspicion of grand theft and retail theft. He was also arrested on suspicion of carjacking this month with a 15-year-old, police said.

The 12-year-old from San Francisco was charged with assault, robbery, burglary, grand larceny, organized retail theft and petit larceny, according to San Francisco Police Officer Paulina Henderson.

The other suspects are 14 and 15 years old and live in San Francisco, Oakland, Pittsburgh and Oakley. All were charged with various counts of theft.

Police said the case began after a Sept. 16 theft at the Walgreens on the 1100 block of Potrero Avenue.

Several boys robbed the store, and two of them assaulted an employee who asked them to stop, police said. The employee suffered a serious head injury, police said.

Police from the Mission Precinct recognized five of the boys from another attack that day at 24th and Mission streets.

Detectives looked closely at other cases, police said, and began identifying other thefts the suspects may have been linked to based on descriptions, similarities to the victims and their modus operandi.

Police said they believe these eight suspects were involved in at least 23 organized crime retail thefts at various Walgreens locations in San Francisco totaling more than $84,000 in stolen merchandise.

Here are details of some of the thefts.

• Seven masked suspects gathered outside the Walgreens at 2050 Irving Street on July 11. The employees locked the doors and called the police. The boys then forced open the door and stole more than $1,300 worth of merchandise, police said.
• Seven boys entered the Walgreens at 1333 Castro Street on August 18. One of the suspects jumped the front counter and stole a cash register. The loss was more than $6,500, police said.
• Nine suspects entered the Walgreens at 2690 Mission Street on September 9th. As they left with more than $1,000 worth of merchandise, one of the boys pulled out a gun and waved it at a security guard, police said.
• Eight boys entered the Walgreens at 1333 Castro Street on Sept. 29 and stole more than $15,000 in merchandise, police said. The same group returned with five more friends and stole nearly $12,000 worth of merchandise, police said.

Police said despite the arrests, the cases are open and active. Anyone with information is asked to contact SFPD at 1-415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with SFPD.