4 Sought for Jewelry Robbery in Torrance : Crime: The department store heist may be related to a string of similar ‘smash and dash’ holdups.

Torrance police are looking for four gunmen who raided a busy department store, smashed display cases and made off with about $100,000 in gold, diamond and gemstone jewelry.

Sgt. Ron Traber said detectives are checking the possibility that the robbery is related to a string of similar “smash and grab” holdups at jewelry stores throughout the Southland.

Traber said the robbers entered the Service Merchandise store on Sepulveda Boulevard shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday, ordered about a dozen customers to lie down on the floor and shoved a gun in the face of store clerk Marcus Cummings.

“He was ordered to open the jewelry case and not to press any buttons,” Traber said. “He complied with that order, but apparently it wasn’t fast enough for one of the other suspects, because he jumped over the counter, took out a hammer and started hammering on the glass of another case.”

As three of the robbers scooped jewelry into a bank bag, a fourth ordered a store cashier to hand him money from her register. The woman turned over about $500, Traber said.

After the robbery, the group fled south from the store on Ocean Avenue in a brown Chevrolet Corsica. About five minutes later, Traber said, a resident of the 22700 block of Marjorie Street called police to report seeing four suspicious men leaving one car and getting into another near her house.

Police impounded the Corsica, which they believe was stolen.

All four participants in Wednesday’s robbery were black males, witnesses said. Three of them appeared to be in their mid-20s, and the fourth was described as a boy about 13 years old, 5 feet tall and weighing 120 pounds.

Witnesses said one of the men had a medium build and was about 6-foot-5. A second man was described as 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds. The third man was reportedly a little younger than the first two, 5-foot-4 and 130 pounds.