Smash-and-grab robbery at Sunnyvale jewelry store foiled by armed employees

CBS News

4 days ago

Armed employees thwarted the latest attempt to rob a jewelry store in Sunnyvale by smashing a vehicle into the building, authorities said.
The incident happened on Friday afternoon at a jewelry store located on East El Camino Real between Poplar Avenue and Helen Avenue, just west of Lawrence Expressway.
The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety said in a press release that officers who responded found that a vehicle had intentionally rammed the building to gain entry. However, armed store workers confronted the multiple suspects, prompting them to flee in separate vehicles before they were able to enter the store, the DPS said.
There were no shots fired, no items or cash were taken, and no one was injured, the DPS said.
The vehicle used to ram into the store had been stolen, the DPS said, and one of the vehicles used by suspects to flee was later found abandoned and had also been stolen.
It was the latest in a series of brazen jewelry store robberies or attempted robberies in Sunnyvale and other Bay Area cities in the last few months. Last month, thieves stole merchandise from a jewelry store on the same block in Sunnyvale by ramming a stolen vehicle into the building in the middle of the day, severely injuring the store owner and nearly injuring customers.
After gaining entry, multiple suspects used hammers to smash display cases and steal an undetermined amount of jewelry before fleeing in separate vehicles, leaving the stolen vehicle behind, the DPS said.
In March, thieves used a stolen car to ram another jewelry store in Sunnyvale, less than a mile west on El Camino Real between S. Wolfe Road and Maria Lane. In that incident, a store employee also confronted the thieves who fled without stealing anything, the DPS said.
Also last month, a similar robbery attempt happened at a Dublin jewelry store, with thieves ramming a stolen car through the store's security gates. Published reports said they left empty-handed because the store's owner had removed merchandise from display cases after hearing about a similar smash-and-grab theft from a Fremont jewelry store just days before.
Anyone with information about the latest robbery attempt was asked to contact Detective E. Rosette at 408-730-7110.