Jewelry store robbed in brazen daylight heist in Raleigh
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- A jewelry store at Crabtree Valley Mall was robbed Monday afternoon after three men shattered jewelry cases and ran off with armfuls of merchandise.
Raleigh police responded to Sidney Thomas Jewelers, on the mall's second floor next to Belk's, at 3:16 p.m.
"People were screaming, we're trying to figure out what's going on," described Ivy Hill, who was Christmas shopping with her friend, Allison Barnes, at the time. "We heard a boom, and so we looked to the left and then we see three young men running with hoodies on."
Hill and Barnes said the smash and grab trio had Rolexes and wallets falling out of their hands, while employees from the jewelry store and workers from stores along with witnesses tried to chase down the suspects.
"Employees were trying to get them but they were just too fast to catch them," Barnes told ABC11.
"They were saying 'catch them, catch them' I was really scary because we didn't know if someone got shot," added Hill.
Mall police initially responded before Raleigh police took over the investigation. The chain-link gate shutoff the store's entry, while detectives inside examined the smashed cases.
Outside of the mall's Belk's entrance, officers roped off the entry and combed the grounds looking for the suspects. Eyewitnesses said the suspects ran away from the scene in three different directions toward Belk's and P.F. Chang's -- corralling their way through heavy crowds, while pummeling innocent bystanders.
"People were getting knocked on the ground. They were pushing people out of the way. I mean it was insane. The mall was packed full of children. They were pushing children around," recounted Hill.
Raleigh police did not immediately release details about the suspects' description or any reported injuries from the robbery.
Eyewitnesses describe the three as teenagers wearing black and gray hoodies and black gloves.
"They looked very young probably a little bit younger than us, just hoodies you couldn't see their faces or anything. I think they had a mask on. They had gloves. Just from side-view and everything they definitely were teenagers," Hill, who is 21, recalled.
Anyone with information on the robbery should call Raleigh police.
