Two masked men armed with guns stole approximately $12,000 worth of merchandise from a jewelry store in City Heights Friday, completing the heist in what the owner believes was just under 30 seconds.
Arturo Carrera, owner of Eclipse Jewelry located at 4213 University Ave., was standing near the cash register, working with one other employee, when two men burst into his business at around 10:35 a.m.
The encounter was caught on surveillance video.
“A couple guys came, one of them pointing with a gun,” Carrera told NBC 7. “And the other guy jumped the showcase and started grabbing gold.”
The owner of the store said the whole ordeal, while jarring, happened very quickly.
“It was just like – 10, 15, 30 seconds, I don’t know. They ran and I started running behind them, just to see what way they were going to take,” Carrera explained.
Carrera was able to catch a glimpse of the armed suspects jumping into a small car that was parked in the middle of an alley between Polk and University avenues. With that, he was able to give police a bit of information about the bandits.
Local
No one was hurt in the robbery but Carrera said he and his co-worker were shaken, especially when they saw the guns.
The San Diego Police Department (SDPD) said the suspects wore black masks and gloves during the robbery. The suspect who jumped the display counter and took jewelry from the trays threw the items into a bag, police said.
At this point, the descriptions of the suspects are vague. Police said the men fled in a late-model Toyota or Honda that was possibly silver or grey in color. One suspect wore a black sweatshirt, black pants, a black mask and dark-colored gloves, while the other man wore a black sweatshirt, tan pants, a black mask and light-colored gloves.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about this case can reach out to Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.
Carrera said he has owned his business for the past 17 years and, unfortunately, this is not his first experience with thieves.
He said his store has been robbed four times over the years. Before Friday’s crime, the most recent robbery happened about three-and-a-half years ago when a suspect smashed a display case and nabbed about $1,000 worth of jewelry.
In that case, Carrera said the robber cut himself on the shattered glass, which slowed him down and stopped him from stealing more jewelry.
