A violent robbery in the middle of the day that police described as a movie scene was captured on surveillance video at a jewelry store in the San Gabriel Valley community of La Verne.
The way in which the thieves committed the crime at the Rodeo Jewelry Store has the police on alert.
Surveillance video captured the moment around noon on Saturday, when a car rammed through the main entrance.
Moments later, four people are seen breaking into the business and grabbing merchandise, some using hammers to open boxes of jewelry. A thief is seen throwing a chair at someone just out of camera view.
The crime has put people who work at the La Verne mall on Foothill Boulevard on guard.
“Now I park in the back at night and walk out with pepper spray in hand and my keys at the ready because you never know,” said Kristin Glass, an employee at the mall.
La Verne police said the owner, his wife and son were inside the store and saw all the robbers flee in a black sedan carrying bags of jewelry.
Police are looking for those responsible for the theft of wine at a winery in Venice.
The business owner has his entrance boarded up and is recovering from what happened.
“One of the suspects acted as a guard for the other three and got between the robbery suspects and where the owner was. He grabbed a chair and hit him over the head,” said Lt. Cory Leeper of the La Verne Police Department.
Detectives hope the video will help identify the four robbers who had their faces covered.
The business owner is recovering from the physical attack that local residents say has them looking over their shoulders in fear.
“Seeing that this happened in my city and knowing that someone entered the store is scary. It’s very scary because I live a thousand feet behind this building,” said John Payne, a resident.
“You could clearly see that they were very upset. Very upsetting,” Glass said.
Police said the car used to crash the business was stolen and the thieves made off with about $300,000 worth of jewelry.
Police are asking anyone with information to come forward.
