California has pending legislation (SB 553) that prevents employers from requiring workers to confront active shooters or shoplifters. If the employee wants to do something, he may, but the store owner can't make it part of his job. However, the legislation does not cover store security, who are trained and hired to do what they do.
That security guy probably just realized that all he could do was put his finger in the dike and pray, as far as stopping the rush of goods flowing out the door, and gave up. Even if that older guy, the store manager or whoever he was, had grabbed hold of one of them, I doubt he would have been able to prevent the guy from escaping. Fear of going to prison makes even a skinny thief brave. I mean look at how flippant UNKewLyingJ got when cornered and confronted with his lies - the nervous poodle barked endlessly until he finally
admitted just a small portion of his wrongs.