Suspect uses makeshift flamethrower to steal $10 to $15 worth of merchandise from 7-Eleven: Cops

Insets: Kimberly Nation allegedly using flamethrower while stealing from convenience store (Manhattan Beach Police Department). Background: 7-Eleven in Manhattan Beach, California (Google Maps).

Cops in California arrested a 35-year-old woman who allegedly used a makeshift flamethrower to steal $10 to $15 worth of items at a convenience store.

The Manhattan Beach Police Department said in a press release that its officers responded around 3:20 a.m. Nov. 12 to a 7-Eleven store at 1221 Artesia Road for a robbery. Officers learned that a woman came up to the clerk with an aerosol can and a lighter to use the spray to create a flame. Cops allege the suspect did this several times, spewing fire toward the clerk. She then stole the unidentified items before running away, police said. She was last seen walking south but was not immediately arrested. The clerk, who called police after the woman fled the store, was uninjured.

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Police put out the suspect’s picture from surveillance cameras to local law enforcement agencies. With the help of another department, a Manhattan Beach police detective and an officer from the Homeless Liaison/Mental Health Evaluation Team arrested the suspect, identified as Kimberly Nation, around 8 a.m. on Nov. 12.