CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES
Police were looking for two armed thieves who set up camp in an empty business on Broadway, then broke through a wall into an adjacent jewelry store and robbed the owner of more than $500,000 in gold chains and earrings.
The heist was reported at B. Lewis Jewelry Manufacturing at 610 S. Broadway on Friday afternoon, about the same time as the May Day protest downtown, said LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon.
It was not immediately clear if the robbery was timed to coincide with the protest, but Vernon said the thieves took unusual steps, including staying in the business overnight and employing a listening device to monitor employees.
The jewelry thieves, who wore ski masks, pistol whipped and bound a man at the jewelry store with duct tape. The men, one short and portly and the other tall and skinny, also took the store’s video security system, Vernon said.
Police said one of the thieves sustained a severe bite to his finger and that one went by the name Tony.
-- Andrew Blankstein
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