Recently, it seems that flash mobs are more commonly employed for petty crimes, like panty raids, rather than awkward protests and copycat marketing. This video shows a large group of teens swarming a Germantown 7-Eleven and stealing candy, chips, ice cream, and soda — basically anything that will, over time, render them morbidly obese. So who gets the last laugh?

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According to the store owner, police didn't want a copy of the surveillance tape because they thought it would be hard to capture the teens based on the footage, which, to our eyes, seems clear enough. Nonetheless, a Montgomery County officers tells NBC Washington, "We're going to take this very seriously." Right. (The owner also didn't want to reveal the location of his store; there are six in Germantown, so it shouldn't be hard to figure out if you live there.)

It's come to the point where, when we see a large group of people, we expect that we will be robbed, not treated to a live rendition of "Born This Way." We almost miss the days when flash mobs were simply annoying, rather than a societal menace.

Did you see what happened at the 0:50 mark? A boy knocks a bag onto the ground, and a girl behind him picks it up and puts it back on the rack. They may be shoplifting en masse, but hey, at least they're keeping organized what don't steal!

UPDATE: WTOP reports that police have identified a few of the suspects, but need help in identifying the others.

[NBC]