Rash Of Jewelry Robberies In The Bronx Have Store Owners Fearful And Angry
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Hundreds of thousands of dollars in jewels ripped off right in the middle of the day. It happened recently in the Bronx. It's part of a recent trend that has left store owners very nervous.
On Friday, CBS 2's Jessica Schneider talked to the victims about the tactics the thieves are using.
"They pushed me in and they put the gun in my face," victim Al Santiago said.
The jewelry thieves are terrorizing shops in the Bronx.
"They took us into the back of the room, and they tied us up," victim Malik Raza said.
Santiago and Raza were prisoners inside their own store on Southern Boulevard for 30 minutes.
"He told me 'Don't look at me or I'm going to shoot the old man,'" Santiago said.
The two thieves, disguised in sunglasses and hats, ransacked the store's shelves.
"He took all the diamonds, diamond rings, lady's diamond earrings, a lot of gold in the front," Raza said.
Raza said, in all, the thieves made off with more than $500,000 in jewelry.
"It's a lot of money," Santiago said.
A gold shop on the Grand Concourse was another recent target. Two men walked in at 11 a.m. on a Sunday morning, but only walked out with $100 in cash and a cell phone, police said.
"The supervisor walked in and told them, 'Oh you're going to jail.' They left everything there and ran off," employee Josh Nieves said.
Surveillance video shows one of the men walking in. Once inside, they ordered the two employees to the ground, but they couldn't open the safe. And when the store owner arrived, she told them to get out and called police, police said.
"Yeah, she confronted them and she was real brave," Nieves said.
Another store on Southern Boulevard wasn't so lucky. The owner told CBS 2's Schneider he lost $50,000 in jewels. That store now has snapshots of the thieves on its window, hoping the police track them down.
"These guys belong in jail. That's it," Nieves said.
"We just gotta come to work. We can't stop working. We're just extra careful now," Raza said.
If you know anything about these robberies, please call the NYPD.
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