Mother, daughter try to stop group of suspects robbing their jewelry store
By WABC News Staff
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PERTH AMBOY, New Jersey (WABC) — A family is picking up the pieces and assessing the damage after their jewelry store was robbed in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
NewsCopter 7 was over the scene at SD Jewelry on Madison Avenue on Wednesday, where authorities say the wild incident played out.
Robbers were caught on camera smashing the front window of the shop with a sledgehammer and were seen carrying garbage bags full of jewelry as they escaped to a waiting car.
Screams could be heard from the mother and daughter who own the store in video obtained by Eyewitness News.
Jessie Sanchez is a close friend who owns a salon across the street.
As the robbers tried to make it into their getaway car, there was one thing they did not account for; they weren’t getting away without a fight.
“She fought with them like a man,” Sanchez said. “She’s a brave woman. Stephanie is a brave woman, but I feel so sad for her mother. Her mother fell away. She fell. It was too much.”
The mother suffered bruises to her arm and leg.
The two fearless women tried to pull the robbers out of the getaway BMW as they hit reverse, sideswiping a parked car. The mother and daughter kept hanging on even as the robbers peeled off, leaving the mother on the ground.
The frightened daughter said she did all she could to stop the robbery. She said she sacrificed a lot to get the store up and running.
“I fought with them, look here, I’m cut, because I fought back, I said to my mom ‘they’re not going to take all my effort,’ you don’t know how many people are on the internet, calling me name but I would work Uber until 4, 5 a.m. so that I could save up money to start a business,” she said.
The mother said she was still very upset.
“To come and take that from her, but what’s important is that we’re alive and that I thank God for that but I want them caught,” she said.
The robbers were as bold as they come. Not only did they hit SD Jewelry in broad daylight, but they did it right under the cops’ noses. There is a police substation right across the street.
They say no weapons were pulled out, and no one was seriously injured. It’s estimated they got away with $1 million in merchandise.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Perth Amboy Police Department at 732-324-3800.
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