Thieves Take Everything From Jewelry Store in Smash-and-Grab Robbery

A group of nine people armed with hammers robbed a California jewelry store, police say.

The thieves smashed display cases at the store inside the Sun Valley Mall and took jewelry. The crime took place at about 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 15.

Scroll down to see surveillance video of the crime.

“Employees tried to intervene and were kept back by the hammer wielding criminals,” the Concord Police Department stated on Facebook. “The suspects got away before police arrived. Some customers inside the mall called reporting what they thought were gunshots heard, but in actuality, they heard the sounds of the hammers breaking glass. No shots were fired.”

The suspects “wiped out the inventory” of the store, SFGATE reports.

The Jewelers’ Security Alliance reports that there has been “a pattern of smash and grab robberies at California malls being carried out by between 3 to 7 suspects.” Other incidents occurred in Milpitas on May 20, Hayward on May 21, Daly City on Sept. 15 and San Jose on Oct. 28 and 29.