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A witness took this photo Wednesday afternoon during the heavy robbery of a jeweler in St Johns.
A woman in her 70s ‘ran and jumped’ at an armed man in an attempt to stop a robbery at a jewelry store, witnesses say.
Two assailants, armed with a pistol and a hammer, robbed Brownson’s Jewelers at an Auckland shopping center on Wednesday afternoon, police said.
The assailants entered the store with threats, carrying a firearm and smashing several cabinets with a hammer, before fleeing in a car, a spokesman said.
A witness said she was at the Meadowbank Shopping Center with her daughter when she saw the woman in her 70s spring into action.
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“An elderly woman pushed a bench against the door of the jewelry store to keep them inside.
“He kicked it off and said, ‘If any of you move, I’ll shoot you,'” the witness said.
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Police are investigating the robbery of a jewelry store in St Johns Wednesday afternoon.
“Then this elderly lady ran and jumped at the man with the gun – the second assailant ran away.
“It wasn’t until he got close to the exit that he pulled the woman out and said, ‘If you move, I’ll shoot you,'” she said.
The witness’ 17-year-old daughter had her phone off to take pictures.
“We heard breaking glass, very loud noises. I was shaking. It was nerve-wracking,” the teen said.
As a result of the burglary, several shops in the shopping center were evacuated around 1 p.m.
Brownsons Jewelers owner Ritesh Raniga said it was not the first time he had been robbed.
“We have lived in fear that this would happen. Because so many jewelers are affected at night and during the day,” he said.
Raniga owns three jewelers in Auckland.
“We’ve been victims five times in 17 months,” he said.
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A teenage witness recorded the moment on her phone when Brownson’s Jewelers was robbed.
Raniga doesn’t know how much was stolen yet, but he was concerned about his employees.
“A gun was pointed at” [a store worker] freely available. It was very close, less than a meter away from him.
†[The employee] had his hands up. The other man smashed the glass, there was a lot of noise,” he said.
He said the woman who jumped in to help was shopping at the mall on a regular basis.
“Normally she would come in and say hello… she went out of her way to help us,” he said.
The robbery comes just two days later jewelers in Lynn Mall and downtown Bottney hitand a week after the Jeweler Michael Hill in Newmarket was robbed†
There were no injuries and there was no indication that the gun was fired, Acting Superintendent Matt Child said.
The police are investigating the incident.