Thieves Rob Jewelry Store Amid Gunfire

Four robbers, including at least one who was wounded by shattered glass or a bullet, were being sought Tuesday after an Encino jewelry store robbery erupted in gunfire, Los Angeles police said.

The four men entered Pascal Jewelry at the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Woodley Avenue about 12:15 p.m., Lt. George Rock said. Two of the men pointed handguns at the store’s owner and four employees and told them not to move. Another man used a hammer to smash glass display cases, while the fourth robber grabbed jewelry, Rock said.

When the man with the hammer passed in front of one of the gunmen, momentarily blocking his view of the store’s owner, the owner ran to a back room, where he grabbed his own gun and came out firing, Rock said. Police declined to release the owner’s name.

Rock said the robbers ran from the store as the owner fired five shots at them. Police late Tuesday had not determined if the thieves returned fire. Witnesses watched the men jump into a waiting car and drive to the nearby intersection of Woodley Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard, where they got into another car and sped away.

Police said the first getaway car had been stolen earlier. Detective Bud Mehringer said blood was found inside the car and in the jewelry shop, indicating that at least one of the men had been injured by a bullet or possibly glass from the shattered jewelry cases.

Mehringer said most of the store’s cases had been smashed and jewelry taken from them by the time the owner armed himself. He said the loss was likely to be in excess of $10,000.

Police were still seeking the suspects late Tuesday.