More than $200,000 in jewelry was stolen in a smash-and-grab robbery at a jewelry store in Montclair Place Mall Thursday evening, but not before store employees were able to land a few shots of their own.
It was just after 6 p.m. when three men came in to Anthony and Co. Jewelers armed with sledgehammers, according to Eduardo Haro and Griselda Martinez, who were behind the counter when the attack began.
“All of a sudden I heard three loud booms and I thought it was a gun,” Haro said. “I ran forward and there were three Black gentlemen. They were pounding the cases with these heavy sledgehammers. It was frightening.”
Martinez, meanwhile, decided she was going to fight back with anything within arms reach, including aerosol cans and calculators.
“I was upset, of course, I was angry,” she said. “It just kicked in. I just started grabbing everything and decided, you know what, no, I’m going to fight back.”
In the surveillance video, you can see the items being tossed at the thieves.
“I was just grabbing anything I could and throw it. I felt like they were going to come in more and at that point, I needed to defend myself,” she said.
“Thank god Griselda showed up, she started throwing objects at them. It was a little crazy, but it kind of deterred them. They threw an object back at me, I got hit in the nose, but hey, that’s life,” Haro said.
Martinez and Haro were eventually able to fend off the suspects, but not before they made off with expensive chains and diamond pendants.
“I guess my message is stop stealing man, we all have to work,” Martinez said.