WESTMINSTER : 4 Gunmen Hunted After Mall Holdup

Four gunmen robbed a busy department store at Westminster Mall Sunday, escaping with an estimated $10,000 in diamonds and other precious gems in the latest in a series of similar holdups in Orange County, police said.

The robbery, which witnesses said happened so fast that most customers and employees were unaware of it, began about 11:45 a.m. when four men, all believed to be in their mid- to late 20s, entered a Best Products Co. store at 510 Westminster Mall.

One of the robbers held a security guard at gunpoint while the other three commanded the employees to open up four display cases, police and witnesses said.

Wendy Abrams, 20, an employee in the jewelry department, said the robbers appeared to be quick and efficient.

“I turned around and saw indeed a robbery was in progress,” she said. “It lasted for a quick three minutes. It seemed like they knew what cases they wanted.”

Angela Butts, 18, another store employee, said the robbery took place so fast that she was unaware of what had happened.

“I just saw them run out of here,” she said. “I didn’t even know we were getting robbed. It sort of scares me.”

After cleaning out the display cases, the four men ran out the front entrance and into the parking lot, where they jumped into a waiting silver Mitsubishi van, witnesses told police. The men abandoned the van about a block away and escaped in another car, police said.

Police were checking the van for fingerprints, Westminster Police Lt. Andrew Hall said.

No injuries were reported in the holdup.

Police and witnesses said several necklaces, apparently dropped as the robbers were fleeing, were recovered outside the store.

“There was all kinds of jewelry on the sidewalk outside,” said store employee Carlos Toro, 19, who was demonstrating vacuum cleaners when the holdup occurred. “It surprised me that people kept walking over the jewelry without even noticing it.”

Police in Los Angeles said last week that they believe a criminal network in southwest Los Angeles may be responsible for as many as 100 similar jewelry store robberies throughout the Southland in the last year.

In Orange County last Thursday, three men allegedly fleeing a jewelry robbery at a Best Products Co. store in Santa Ana were arrested after a car chase on the San Diego Freeway.

Elsewhere in Orange County, three men escaped Feb. 2 with $450,000 in diamond jewelry from Black, Starr and Frost jewelers in South Coast Plaza. Last month, two men were arrested in connection with a robbery at another Best Products store in Huntington Beach.