El Toro Jeweler Shot in the Latest ‘Smash and Grab’ Robbery

An El Toro jewelry store owner was wounded during a shoot-out Wednesday morning in the latest in a series of “smash and grab” robberies at area jewelers.

The owner of Gossett Jewelers, whom witnesses identified as Bob Gossett, was shot once in the shoulder after three men and a woman entered his store, armed with a handgun, hammers, tire irons and crowbars, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Department officials. Gossett was behind a divider in the store when the four entered, authorities said.

“They started to smash the (display) cases, and the owner came out with a handgun,” sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Richard J. Olson said. “A gunfight ensued, and the owner got hit and went down.”

Police officials in several Orange and Los Angeles county jurisdictions blamed the increasing number of “smash and grab” thefts on activities by Los Angeles gangs.

While acknowledging that gangs may play a role in the jewelry thefts, Olson said the Sheriff’s Department has no evidence that gangs were involved in Wednesday’s holdup.

Gossett, who authorities said is in his late 60s, was rushed to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where he was still in surgery Wednesday afternoon. Sheriff’s officials on the scene said they did not know whether any of the intruders had been shot in the exchange, but Olson said indications were that none were injured.

Store employees were unable to immediately determine how much jewelry had been lost in the robbery.

Six people, including Gossett’s son and daughter, were in the family-owned store, in the 23600 block of El Toro Road, during the robbery and shooting, and the four robbers wore nothing to hide their faces, authorities said. Sheriff’s officials did not release detailed descriptions of the assailants.

Olson did say, however, that three of the four were dressed in brightly colored sweat suits and all escaped in a white, four-door sedan, believed to be a Honda or Hyundai. At least one person was waiting in the car, Olson added, leading authorities to believe that five or six people may have cooperated in the robbery.

Similar thefts have bedeviled area jewelers for months, as the rash of “smash and grab” robberies has spread throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties. There have been nearly a dozen such robberies in Orange County alone during the past two years.

In June, three bandits wielding a chrome pistol and hammers robbed an Anaheim jewelry store. Six weeks later, three to five young men dressed in sweat suits and carrying a gun and sledgehammer smashed display cases in the course of robbing a Newport Center Fashion Island jewelry store.

Each of those robberies took place in late morning or early afternoon. Witnesses said Wednesday’s holdup in El Toro began shortly before 11 a.m. In addition, many of the robberies have taken place in open-air malls. Gossett Jewelers is in Saddleback Plaza, about two blocks inland from Interstate 5 in El Toro.

“We’re still trying to determine whether these suspects may have been involved in other smash and grabs,” Olson said. “The problem is that all smash and grabs are pretty much the same.”

He added that Orange County sheriff’s officials have been in contact with Los Angeles County law enforcement agencies, and both are cooperating to see whether the perpetrators of Wednesday’s crime may be responsible for other crimes in the area.

“The Crips and Bloods (Los Angeles gangs) are involved in a number of these robberies,” said Police Sgt. Chet Barry of Anaheim, where other smash and grab robberies have occurred. “We’re seeing more and more of this.”

Gossett’s wife, who was at home when her husband was shot, rushed to the scene and was crying as police pieced together statements from witnesses.

“I could flatten them for doing this,” Gossett’s wife said before quickly leaving the scene to join her husband at the hospital.

‘SMASH AND GRABS’

Aug. 14, 1989--Thieves brandishing a gun and sledgehammer took an undisclosed amount of merchandise from a Newport Center Fashion Island jewelry store.

June 30, 1989--Three men dressed in dark clothes, one waving a small chrome handgun, stormed into a jewelry store in Anaheim and shattered display cases.

April 25, 1989--Robbers wearing ski masks, carrying a silver revolver and sledgehammers held customers at gunpoint and smashed display cases at Robinson’s in Westminster Mall.

Jan. 24, 1989--Three masked men robbed the jewelry department of Robinson’s at MainPlace/Santa Ana, smashing glass cases.

Jan. 9, 1989--Four bandits held customers at gunpoint in a Buena Park Mall jewelry store, shattered glass display cases and scooped out about $100,000 worth of jewelry.

Nov. 22, 1988--Four well-dressed men carrying handguns emptied three display cases of items valued at about $1 million at Slavick’s Jewelers in South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa.

Jan. 14, 1988--Two gunmen smashed display cases, rifled a safe and took money from the pockets of three customers and employees at a Los Alamitos jewelry store.

Aug. 20, 1987--A retired policeman who had brought in gold to be weighed was wounded in the chest by one of five men who used sledgehammers to shatter jewelry display cases at South Coast Jewelry Mart in Santa Ana. Two men were later arrested.

June 16, 1987--A jewelry store clerk was shot in the leg and a woman injured when three men, one of them with a handgun, robbed a store in the Costa Mesa Courtyards shopping mall.

May 12, 1987--A La Habra jewelry store owner was shot in the chest by one of three robbers who smashed display cases and took an undetermined amount of jewelry.