Three men posing as customers robbed New York City jewelry store Avianne & Co. Sunday after bringing employees into the back room and binding them with zip ties and duct tape.
According to several reports, including one from the Jewelers’ Security Alliance, the three men were buzzed into the Diamond District store. One suspect was wearing a suit and a fedora, a second was wearing a red and black cloth wrapped around his head, and the third was wearing a bucket hat. Suspects one and two were wearing wigs with dreadlocks.
According to the Jewelers’ Security Alliance, here’s how it happened: One of the men said he was looking to buy a ring, and he and two employees went into the back room to look at merchandise. Then the suspect in the fedora pulled a gun out and stood up, shouting directions to employees—at the same time the man in the back pulled a gun.
The two suspects in the front went to the back, forced the employees to the floor, and used zip ties and duct tape to tie them up. Then, as you can see in the video, the thieves scrambled to collect merchandise from a number of areas and ran out of the store.
A call to Avianne & Co. for this article was not returned, but an employee who asked not to be identified—but still had marks from the zip ties on his wrist—told local TV outlet ABC 7 that the men “were very sloppy thieves because they weren’t in coordination. If one guy was saying, ‘Get their phones,’ the other guy was saying, ‘Open the showcase.’ “
The robbery occurred in the middle of the day and was captured in full-color detail by surveillance video cameras. And sloppy or not, the heist was effective. The men, who are still at large, stole an estimated $4 million in jewels.
They allegedly tried to hail a taxi cab during their getaway, but “nobody would pick them up,” a New York Police Department (NYPD) official told the New York Post. “They seemed to have it all worked out, except how to get away.” At a loss, they ran east on West 47th Street.
If you recognize or come in contact with any of the suspects, please call the NYPD Tip Line at 800-577-TIPS. The Jewelers’ Security Alliance can be contacted as well at 212-687-0328 or jsa2@jewelerssecurity.org.
Top: One of the robbers caught on video just before he pulled a gun out from under the table (photo courtesy of New York Police Department)
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