CREVE COEUR, Mo. – Police are on the scene investigating after shots were fired during a jewelry store robbery Monday afternoon.
Creve Coeur Police said there were six people in Vincent's Jewelers on the 11700 block of Olive Boulevard at the time of the robbery, but no one was hurt.
Police said four masked suspects armed with rifles barged into the store at around 2:45. They fired shots and made off with some merchandise before fleeing the scene in a truck police believe was a Dodge Ram four-door pickup truck. Police said it was dark with silver trim and plastic dog crates in truck bed.
Police said blood was found on the scene, but none of the victims were injured. They believe a suspect was cut by broken glass during the crime.
This isn't the first jewelry story robbery this year in Creve Coeur. On Feb. 1, two armed men entered Timekeepers, taking the life of the owner’s dog Gizmo, and stealing jewelry.
Joe Fredlich owns Décor Interiors and Jewelry and has been in the business for decades.
“It’s alarming to everyone in the industry,” said Fredlich. “They were so brazen, unnecessarily brazen.”
Fredlich said he’s never seen two armed jewelry store robberies happen so close in both time elapsed, and distance.
“It’s very very rare, not just in St. Louis, but in any city,” he said. “It is scary, it really is.”
Whether the two incidents are connected or not, Joe is concerned about trigger-happy thieves.
“I don’t know anyone who isn’t willing to put the security of their staff and clientele first, and everyone just wants it to end and get out safely,” he said.
He said he’ll gladly replace what’s in the counter to protect who’s standing behind it.
“You can’t anticipate something like this, you play through in your head. You hope something never happens and hopefully, it won’t,” said Fredlich.
Anyone with information is asked to call Creve Coeur Police at 314-737-4600 or CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477.
