About 30 people robbed a 7-Eleven store in Germantown early Saturday, in what police described as a flash mob theft.

The group entered the convenience store, 13001 Wisteria Drive, before 2 a.m., took food and drinks from shelves, then walked out about a minute later, said Montgomery County Police spokeswoman Janelle Smith.A heavily outnumbered store clerk could do nothing but activate a silent alarm to notify police, Smith said.

Police have identified some of the individuals captured on store surveillance video, but no one had been arrested, Smith said Monday afternoon.

A flash mob is an organized event where a group of people assemble to perform some sort of action in public, before quickly dispersing, according to the website Urban Dictionary, which describes itself as a cornucopia of streetwise lingo, posted and defined by its readers. Flash mobs typically are organized through email or social media.

“That’s what these kind of events are termed — a group gathering for a short time to do something,” Smith said. Police do not know how the robbery was organized.

If arrested, mob members could be charged with misdemeanor theft, she said.

The surveillance video can be viewed on YouTube, titled “Police Investigate Germantown Flash Mob” with the username of mcpdmedia. Police ask anyone who has information about the robbery or recognizes someone in the video to contact police’s 5th District Investigative Section at 240-773-6200. Callers may remain anonymous.

nnourmohammadi@gazette.net