A Mount Baker jewelry store was robbed at gunpoint Saturday in a brazen mid-day heist, and the suspects remain at-large.
Officers responded to a 911 call reporting the robbery in the 2300 block of Rainier Avenue South near 23rd Avenue South at about 2:40 pm. From SPD:
Preliminary investigation indicates that two male suspects wearing skeleton masks entered the business and demanded jewelry and money. The business was occupied by one employee and a female customer. The female customer saw the suspects enter and immediately fled out of the south doors.
One of the suspects pointed a handgun at the lone employee and demanded money. The other suspect used a hammer and smashed out all of the glass display cases. After grabbing cash and jewelry the suspects ran out the north door of the business and fled the area in a gold-colored van. The store employee was not injured.
An area search for the suspects revealed the gold van – previously reported stolen – unoccupied in the 1500 block of Sturgess Avenue South on Beacon Hill.
The suspects remain at large, and there is no description available. Robbery detectives are investigating.
Anyone with information about this incident or the suspects is asked to call 911 or the Seattle Police Robbery Unit at (206) 684-5535. Anonymous tips are welcome.
Check your RVP’s 911 section for more Rainier Valley crime news. Photo/Will Austin Photography
Who to know, where to eat & what to do in one of America’s most diverse zip codes!
{ 8 comments }
In the last month on my block: mail stolen, checks washed and cashed, cars broken into, car stolen, tools stolen, bicycle stolen, a home burglarized, two adult males jumped and beaten walking home from Lotties (resulting in broken bones and concussions, and yeah, we’ve located the punks and no, the cops will never be called). I hear gunfire every few days. If people are so desperate that they’ll rob a jewelry store on a main thoroughfare in broad daylight, what won’t they do?
There’s a loaded shotgun just inside my front door…
“If people are so desperate that they’ll rob a jewelry store on a main thoroughfare in broad daylight, what won’t they do?”
Get a job.
It amazes me, I wonder what it would be like if these people would put the same effort into trying to get a job as they do “hustling”.
@Matt,
Are you in Columbia City?
@markB
Hillman City actually, though the aforementioned beating was in Columbia City.
Sadly the only jobs available that these punks are qualified for are in Afghanistan. I guess I’d rather take my chances with the SPD than a battle hardened Muj. Doesn’t mean I’d hesitate.
Those punks aren’t qualified for Afghanistan. The military probably wouldn’t take them.
@ Tom T
Sadly, the military probably will take them! Fail a drug test, the recruiter says, “wait two weeks and take it again.” Heck, they dont need to go military, they can just work for one of the government sponsored “security” companies like blackwater or whatever. I hear they pay $550/day, and you can fail the drug test!
Working at 7-11 doesnt get you respect from your loser friends like robbing a jewelry store does
No one should ever get robbed at gunpoint, but in my opinion, this is not a good stretch of RAS to run a jewelry “store” or any other establishment that caters to vulnerable or desperate people. (This business is not exactly a jewelry “store”–they buy cheap and/or broken jewelry from lower income people at rock bottom prices; you don’t go there to buy a pair of earrings.) It calls to mind the medical marijuana dispensary six blocks to the south that got robbed last month.
What type of business would fit in with the current retail mix but not pose a threat to customers or employees? Maybe a Sylvan Learning Center or a bi-lingual Kaplan College Prep Test?
@Matt,
Are you sure the beating was in Columbia city?, because Angie’s is closed you know.
Not trying to make light of the situation (not the Jersey Shore dimwit) just that I was eagerly awaiting the magical transformation of Columbia City into a crime free Utopia upon the closing of Angie’s
Sorry to hear about your friends.
Comments on this entry are closed.