Smash and grab gang gets $10K in jewelry before store owner gets his gun

Four men who stormed into a jewelry store, smashed display cases and began grabbing merchandise were undeterred by the clerk behind the counter. But it was another story when the business owner came at them with a gun.

It was about 8 p.m. on Dec. 15 when the four men — three of them wearing masks — ran into the jewelry store inside the 163rd Street Mall, 1205 NE 163rd St., in North Miami Beach, Miami-Dade police said.

In security surveillance video released Friday, two of the men are seen slowly walking into the store while a third man, carrying a hammer, rushes past them and starts smashing a display case. That man and another hurdle the over the case and start removing jewelry from their displays.

The thieves pay no heed to the clerk behind the counter — but then suddenly seem to be startled.

“The store owner, who was in the back of the store, heard the glass breaking, armed himself with his gun and came to the front of the store,” Miami-Dade Police Detective Angel Rodriguez said.

Seeing the owner and his gun, the thieves ran out of the store — with one of them falling to the floor as he stumbles into and knocks over a small potted palm tree in his haste to get away.

Still, the robbers snagged about $10,000 worth of jewelry, police said.

Investigators ask anyone with information about this heist or the identity of the thieves to contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477 or go online to www.crimestoppersmiami.com.

MIAMI-DADE POLICE/COURTESY The four people who took part in a smash-andgrab robbery at a jewelry store at the 163rd Street Mall in northeast Miami-Dade would have gotten more than $10,000 in merchandise if the owner hadn't heard them and grabbed his gun.