Newark jewelry store robbers escape with armloads of loot in minutes
NEWARK, Calif. - Carloads of robbers invaded a Newark jewelry store and escaped within minutes with armloads of merchandise, leaving in cars double-parked outside, witnesses said Friday.
"It's a drive-thru! It's a McDonald's drive-thru — but for jewelry," said Quynh Chen, who works next door to Bhindi Jewellers near the Newpark Mall.
Chen said she heard noises at about 1 p.m. Wednesday.
"We thought there was construction next door. It was just like banging and booming but it wouldn't stop. We're like this is the loudest construction we've ever heard," she said.
But no one was building anything.
Smash-and-grab at Newark jewelry store
Newark police are investigating a smash-and-grab robbery at a jewelry store.
Instead, it was the sound of at least a dozen masked, gloved intruders smashing their way into the store.
"They were running out with armloads. We just heard the glass and like trying to figure out what it was and then we saw them running out of the store," said witness Ken Wright.
So much was taken that Chen said the robbers spilled some of the jewelry all over the parking lot.
"It was like a path to collecting a leprechaun trap because it was like a whole row of jewelry," Chen said.
Video taken from inside the store and shared with KTVU shows extensive damage, with smashed display cases and the shop in disarray from the smash-and-grab that had scared workers hiding in the back. The robbers left some of their tools behind.
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"I would describe this as an organized, coordinated effort," said Newark police Captain Jolie Macias.
Macias said the intruders didn't pose as customers and wasted no time getting inside.
"I don't think there was any type of an attempt to be buzzed in. I think it was purely just smash from the beginning," Macias said.
Police said at least a dozen robbers escaped in multiple cars with a "substantial" amount of jewelry. Officers later found two of the cars—both stolen—abandoned in Fremont.
"It's terrifying for a small business to be attacked in this way, and the fact that there's so many people that could just walk in and smash the door with no kind of ramification," Chen said.
Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan