4 Men Armed With Gun and Sledgehammers Rob Jewelry Store

Four young thieves armed with sledgehammers and a gun robbed a Sherman Oaks jewelry store Wednesday night, destroying three glass showcases and taking thousands of dollars in merchandise as accomplices waited outside, police and the shop’s owner said.

None of the three employees inside Polacheck’s Jewelers were injured during the holdup in Sherman Oaks Fashion Square.

But a mall security guard who chased the thieves received minor head injuries when he was knocked off his motorcycle, possibly by a carload of robbers, Los Angeles Police Detective Craig Rhudy said.

The guard, identified by police as Robert Rayner, 21, of Van Nuys, was treated at Sherman Oaks Community Hospital and released, Rhudy said.

Rhudy said an estimated $250,000 in merchandise was stolen.

But as he took inventory later, store owner Steve Polacheck said he believed the amount to be no more than $150,000.

Polacheck said the merchandise taken included men’s rings and bracelets, engagement and wedding rings, and watches.

According to Polacheck, who was not in the store during the 8:10 p.m. robbery, four men in their early 20s came into the store brandishing the gun and sledgehammers and shouting: “Get on the floor or we’ll blow your . . . head off.”

They wore street clothes and no masks, he said.

The employees cooperated, he said, and the thieves “were in and out of the store in about 30 seconds.”

No customers were present.

A fifth suspect waited outside the store in the mall, Polacheck said.

Rhudy said police believe two additional accomplices waited in a car.

At least some of the robbers fled in a late-model, light-blue Cadillac.

They abandoned the Cadillac near Valleyheart Drive and Matilija Avenue, where the security guard, who had been chasing the Cadillac on his motorcycle, was hit and knocked down by another car that might have been involved in the escape, Rhudy said.

Police recovered the Cadillac, and the case remains under investigation, Rhudy said.