Bandits Take $100,000 in Mall Jewelry Heist
Four bandits who held customers and workers at gunpoint in a Buena Park Mall jewelry store Monday morning fled with about $100,000 in merchandise, police said.
Officers said the robbery was similar to other recent Southland “smash-and-rob” holdups, in which gunmen shatter display cases and escape with jewelry in a matter of moments, fleeing the area in a stolen car that is quickly abandoned.
No injuries were reported.
Buena Park Police Lt. Tony Kelly said the four entered Ashley’s Jewelry Store about 10:20 a.m. One of the bandits trained a gun on employees and three customers while another smashed glass display cases and the other two scooped out jewelry. Then they ran out of the mall.
People who apparently watched the holdup from a nearby mall restaurant telephoned police, who fanned out at mall exits but missed the robbers.
Kelly said the robbers fled in a car that proved later to be stolen. It was abandoned a short time later near the residential intersection of Magnolia and Greenleaf avenues in Anaheim, which is near the Santa Ana and Riverside freeways.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
