Viral Video Shows Illinois Shoplifter Getting Ditched By Her Getaway Car

Illinois police quickly caught a shoplifter who got locked out of her getaway car at the scene — and the video went viral on TikTok.

The “Hibbett Heist” happened at the Hibbett Sports store in a strip mall in Edwardsville, Illinois, on Saturday afternoon (September 4). A bystander was walking into one of the stores with his daughter when they noticed three alleged shoplifters sprinting from Hibbett Sports. He posted an initial video on TikTok the following day, narrating: “Her crew locked her out and abandoned her when the police rolled up. they ran right by us.” As of publication on Wednesday (September 8), millions of social media users have viewed the videos.

In a follow-up video he shared to TikTok and Instagram on Tuesday (September 7), “Fax is Fax” described the scene:

“Almost immediately when we hop out of the car we hear screaming: 'go, go, go, go, go!' And I look up at the entrance of Hibbett Sports (and) see three young women with just arms full of racks of sweatsuits — overloaded with sweatsuits — sprinting directly towards us. As the first two women jump in the car in the front seat, it seemed like they panicked and shifted the car into drive, which auto locked all the doors.”

He added, “for everyone who’s speculating it was a setup,” that “it did not seem like they realized that the third woman was not in the car yet. I think they were just so shocked that law enforcement arrived almost immediately.” The officer was already in the parking lot as the three women attempted to flee the scene.

“And as you can see, the woman who was left behind was apprehended after a very, very abbreviated foot chase in the parking lot.”

The man concludes the “story time” video admitting that he didn’t anticipate that millions of people would view his videos, but pledged to do his best to answer questions from commenters.

Watch his “story time” here: