NEW YORK, NY – Surveillance video at a posh Park Avenue jewelry store caught a trio of crooks brazenly smash their way inside with a sledgehammer early Saturday morning, carving a path of destruction before making off with $500,000 in merchandise, according to the New York Police Department.
The smash-and-grab incident took place at approximately 3:30 a.m. at Cellini Jewelers, located on Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. According to the surveillance footage, the three thieves are shown breaking through the outside glass door to the establishment by kicking it repeatedly, and then using a sledgehammer to breach the inside glass door.
The three – all of whom are wearing hoods and masks – then begin running rampant throughout the store, smashing and tipping over multiple glass display cases in order to access the expensive jewelry items within, which they start stuffing into sacks.
After getting their fill, two of the suspects can be seen sprinting back out through the front entrance, while the third – clearly not in as much of a rush – takes a cover off of another display case built into a pillar and begins hitting it with the sledgehammer. After grabbing a few choice items, he also makes good his escape.
The robbers then piled into a waiting gray or silver sedan and sped off east on East 56th Street, cops say.
Although police said that the store owners are still establishing a full inventory of the stolen items, the approximate value of the haul was over $500,000. Currently, no arrests have been made, and the NYPD is asking for the public’s help in tracking down the suspects.
The violent break-in comes as Manhattan’s burglaries and grand larcenies statistics have soared year-over-year, having risen over 31 percent and 41 percent respectively.
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