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A TikTok star and Australian singer-songwriter visiting San Francisco said he was robbed at gunpoint in the city.
"They all pulled guns on us. So it was me and two of my mates. And we were filming the whole documentary together, and it was very weird. It was very scary having a gun to my face. First time in my whole life that I'd had a gun to my face. I was peeing my pants, very aggressively. Not actually, but in my head I was," Clinton Kane told ABC 7.
"I had so much adrenaline and so much confusion and shock and fear."
SHOPLIFTERS HIT LOS ANGELES AREA TJ MAXX, CASUALLY LEAVE STORE CARRYING HEAP OF STOLEN GOODS
Kane and two of his friends had just arrived in San Francisco on Friday afternoon for a film project. They parked in the Marina District for lunch, and Kane said he noticed men breaking into his car and taking $30,000 in equipment.
Kane and his friends then chased the men and were allegedly met with guns in their faces.
"Just got to san francisco to film for the album and in an hour of being here we had a gun pointed to our faces and everything was stolen so this trip is going QUITE GREAT," Kane posted on his Instagram account, accompanied by a video of the car where the equipment was reportedly stolen.
The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment to confirm the incident and if it was reported to authorities.
WALGREENS CLOSING 5 MORE SAN FRANCISCO STORES DUE TO THEFT
Kane added to ABC7 that he and his two friends ran to a restaurant after the guns were allegedly pulled on them.
Cities in California have reported an uptick in theft cases in recent months. San Francisco has most notably been affected by shoplifting crimes, with Walgreens shutting down five additional stores in the city this month, citing the rampant theft plaguing the city.
"Due to ongoing organized retail crime, we have made the difficult decision to close five stores across San Francisco," a Walgreens spokesperson told FOX Business in a statement last week. "Each store will transfer prescriptions to a nearby Walgreens location within a mile radius and we expect to place the stores’ team members in other nearby locations."
Videos showing brazen shoplifting near Los Angeles also spread on social media over the summer, including in one case where two men were seen walking out of a TJ Maxx with their arms full of shoplifted items.
"The employees at TJ Maxx have been told that, in these specific circumstances, it’s not worth it for you to go and physically attack, physically stop people that are walking out with this inventory," criminal defense attorney Alexandra Kazarian said of the incident in July. "Because these businesses have insurance."
WOULD-BE ROBBERS SHOT BY ARMED SHOPPERS IN LOS ANGELES
Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Jerretta Sandoz, who serves as vice president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, said she blamed the July incident on Prop 47, a 2014 referendum that lowered criminal sentences on crimes such as shoplifting.
"If they’re caught, they’re probably given the equivalent of a traffic ticket," she said at the time. "So it’s not taken seriously."
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"If you let these criminals think that they can go in and steal merchandise and steal things, what happens when someone tries to stop them," Sandoz added.
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