As North Carolina struggled to deal with the impact of Hurricane Florence, looters set upon a Family Dollar store in the city of Wilmington as police respond online to say they will not intervene.

The store is located across the street from a public housing community and some of the residents “broke into the closed Family Dollar… to steal anything they could find,” NBC affiliate WETC reported.

A brave, if not careless, reporter can be seen confronted some of the thieves, asking them, “You know this is looting, right?”

A reporter from a local Fox affiliate arrived to find cars lined up in front of the store as their owners were presumably inside the store in search of booty.

The Wilmington Police would initially add to the spectacle, tweeting out a statement that effectively served as an invitation to join in the pillaging.

“NEWS ALERT – We are aware of the looting occurring at the Family Dollar Store at 13th & Greenfield Sts, unfortunately management has asked not to intervene at this time,” the tweet read.

NEWS ALERT – We are aware of the looting occurring at the Family Dollar Store at 13th & Greenfield Sts, unfortunately management has asked not to intervene at this time. — Wilmington Police (@WilmingtonPD) September 15, 2018

As the announcement stated, Family Dollar management instructed them to stand down.

If the owner intended to offer a giveaway, he could have saved himself the cost of replacing broken doors by just leaving them unlocked.

And social justice warrior were only too happy to defend the police inaction:

They’re not encouraging looting …they are being gracious in a time of need. Have you ever barely survived regular life and then had to survive a DEADLY hurricane too? People are just trying to eat drink and wipe their ass. Back off my city, please. #florence #WilmingtonNC — Amanda (@mandage311) September 15, 2018

But then, as seen in Raw Story, which saw fit to call Fox News out for describing the stealing as “looting,” this is the accepted narrative on the left.

The hard-left website even mentioned the race of the looters in its headline, adding a racial component to the concept of enforcing laws during a natural disaster — as far as the news outlet is concerned, conservatives are heartless for wanting cops to intervene.

For what it’s worth, local CBS affiliate WFMY opted to protect the identity of the criminals, blurring their faces.

Assistant Police Chief Mitch Cunningham said that while the owner didn’t want to press charges, he ultimately agreed to do so after officers consulted with the district attorney, WECT reported.

“We take looting very seriously and we are going to aggressively pursue any kind of looting that goes on,” Cunningham said. “We are going to take a strong stand.”

Police are now working to identify and arrest those involved in the looting and have reportedly already arrested five people.