Video shows San Bernardino County jewelry store employee fighting back during robbery
By Dean Fioresi, Lauren Pozen
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LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — Dramatic video shows the moments when a Montclair jewelry store employee fights back during a robbery last week.
It happened on Thursday, Feb. 12, at around 7:45 p.m. at Fast-Fix Jewelry and Watch Repairs, located in the 2000 block of E. Montclair Plaza Lane, according to the Montclair Police Department.
Investigators say that the suspect entered the store holding a small bag, which he put down before walking back out of the door. The suspect then “looked around outside the business” before going back inside and walking to the rear of a glass jewelry display case inside, where the employee was standing.
He allegedly pulled a handgun from his jacket and began demanding that the woman open the jewelry case.
“The suspect raised the gun toward the employee multiple times and used a flashlight in his other hand to push the employee,” the Montclair police release said. “The suspect shattered the glass case with the gun and attempted to grab items from the case, but was pushed out of the business by the employee.”
The employee, who wished to only be identified as Alin, said that she was scared but overcome with anger when she fought back.
“He said, ‘Don’t scream. Don’t anything, just open the case,'” Alin recalled. “I said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Go, come back, go,’ and push him. He said, ‘No, just calm down.'”
She says that before running off, the suspect shocked her lower body with a stun gun. He grabbed a few items and took off, she says.
Despite being shaken, Alin says she was uninjured in the incident. She says that for her, it was personal because it’s more than a job to her.
“It’s my brother’s store, you know,” she said.
The store owner says that among the stolen items were gold pieces, watches, diamond rings, gold chains and bracelets, all of which combine for thousands of dollars of loss.
“When you have a jewelry store, you feel like you are targeted in these kind of places, to be honest,” the store owner, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “Especially with gold prices soaring so high, now you become a really target.”
He says that this is the second time that his store has been hit by a thief and is hopeful that state laws can be changed to protect store employees and customers.
“I don’t want to have that kind of feeling where every customer comes in wearing a hoodie and put on sunglasses and I have to now tell them, ‘Get your sunglasses off, get your hoodie off, get your cap off.’ Is that the way that we should be working?”
Police say that as the suspect ran from the store, another person hit him with a chair to try and slow him down, but the suspect was able to continue running and was last seen heading west through the mall.
A gun recovered at the scene was found to be an unloaded and inoperable BB gun, according to police.
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