Suspects sought for smashing display case at high-end Yorkdale Mall store and stealing thousands of dollars in expensive jewelry.
Customers at Sherway Gardens were horrified to see a massive police presence at the popular mall a couple days ago.
Toronto Police are investigating a second smash and grab robbery of a jewelry store around 8:30 p.m. on March 21.
Toronto-area police are probing at least 12 incidents in the last couple months in which glass display cases were smashed and expensive jewelry grabbed by masked thieves who fled.
It is believed the same high-end Sherway jewelry store was robbed two months ago by the same three suspects.
The heist was over in minutes as store employees were threatened with their lives and ordered to stay put by the robbers.
Police said during the most recent heist three masked suspects entered the store and one man used a hammer to smash display cases.
It is believed another man threatened store employees to prevent the theft from being discovered.
“An unknown amount of property was obtained,” police said.
The three suspects were seen leaving the mall in a white SUV, police and witnesses said.
Luckily, there were no injuries.
The same store was robbed last January 17 by three suspects, who again smashed display cases and stole expensive jewelry.
Police were at the robbed jewelry store in minutes but the brazen thieves had fled by then.
In that incident the thieves struck around 5:20 p.m. when the store was busy.
Jewelry store robberies, particularly within malls, have been increasing, with numerous incidents reported in Mississauga and Brampton.
Two youths, one aged 18 and another 16, were arrested by Peel Regional Police for a string of similar robbery of jewelry stores in the Brampton and Mississauga areas.
And four others were arrested last February by police after a similar robbery at an Oshawa jewelry store in which more than $100,000 worth of expensive goods were stolen.
All four were young offenders.
Five others are sought by police for the last February hammer-wielding robbery of a jewelry store at Yorkdale Mall.