Jewelry Taken in Anaheim : Smash-and-Grab Robbers Loot Store

In another in a series of smash-and-grab jewelry store robberies, three men stormed into an Anaheim shop Friday, shattered several display cases with hammers and fled with an undetermined amount of jewelry.

It was just after 11 a.m. when the men, all believed to be in their 20s and dressed in dark clothes, entered Kay Jewelers in Anaheim Plaza, 500 N. Euclid St. One of the bandits waved a small, chrome handgun at two store clerks and a customer, ordering them to lie face down on the floor. The others broke open three display cases, but a fourth case wouldn’t shatter.

After scooping up jewelry, the trio ran out through the mall, into the parking lot and jumped into a waiting car, witnesses told police.

Officers later discovered the car, which they believe was stolen, parked little more than a block from the mall at an on-ramp to the Santa Ana Freeway, Lt. John Haradon said. Police were checking the car for fingerprints, he said.

The heist was among a rash of similar robberies in Orange County in recent months. Although the robbers are often different, the method generally is the same. The thieves enter during normal business hours and use hammers to get to valuable jewelry.

“It’s a popular way to do jewelry store robberies,” Haradon said, noting that similar heists have been carried out by a variety of thieves throughout the Southland in the past three to four years.

Ramin Farhand, district manager for Fay Jewelers, said the Anaheim Plaza store has been open less than a year.

The sales clerks “were frightened” but seemed to be bearing up well, he said.

Employees Friday were conducting an inventory to determine what was taken, but no dollar amount had been determined, Farhand said.

The robbers “didn’t go for any particular item,” he said, noting that the thieves took everything from diamond rings to watches and pendants.