3 robbers target Little Rock jewelry store, threaten to kill worker if vault not opened

Cases smashed with hammer

Three masked, armed robbers held up a jewelry store Wednesday evening in central Little Rock, smashed glass display cases and threatened to kill an employee if she did not open a vault, a police report said.

About 7:50 p.m., three people walked into the Jared The Galleria of Jewelry store at 310 S. University Ave. wearing all black and brandishing handguns, the report said.

The robbers told the store's occupants to get on the floor and then they began smashing jewelry cases with a hammer, the report said. One employee told police that a robber grabbed her by her hair, put a gun to her back and said he'd kill her if she did not open the store's vault.

Little Rock police spokesman officer Eric Barnes said that during the holdup, one of the robbers also demanded belongings from one of the women on the floor. There were at least six witnesses in the store during the robbery, including store employees, according to the report.

The three suspects got into a 2019 Dodge Durango, which Barnes said was caught on camera leaving the area, though its direction of travel was unclear.

The 911 call came in about 10 minutes after the robbery began, according to the police report.

Barnes said late Wednesday that detectives were still trying to determine how much damage was done to the store and how much jewelry was missing.

A glass replacement company vehicle was parked in front of the jewelry store Wednesday evening, and employees directed a reporter to the Signet Jewelers corporate office for any comment about the robbery.

A spokesman for Signet referred reporters back to the police report for information on the robbery and gave no further comment.

In early February, three suspects robbed a Jared's in Chattanooga, Tenn., and 10 days later, three masked men with sledgehammers stole jewelry and threatened employees from the same company in Hoover, Ala., according to multiple news reports.

Three men wearing masks and hoodies and wielding sledgehammers stole jewelry on March 11 from the Jared's in Overland Park, Kan.

Though investigators could not immediately say whether the jewelry store robberies were connected, Barnes said detectives were looking into that possibility.

"That's part of the investigation," Barnes said. "Is this something local? Or is it a ring that came to town?"

Detectives were working with the jewelry store Thursday evening to get security footage of the robbery, Barnes said.

Metro on 04/12/2019

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