Jewelry Stores Targeted

ing ski masks and gloves walked
into the store at approximately
1:45 p.m. and announced a
holdup.
All the people in the store
were ordered to drop to the floor
as the robbers fired their guns
— an AK-47 automatic assault
rifle and a .45 caliber handgun
— into a display case, shatter-
ing it. The thieves then emptied
the contents of the case into.bags
and escaped in a red Chevy Cav-
alier, said Officer John Harris of
the Southfield Police.

Smash-and-grab robberies at Tapper's and Darakjian
among string of incidents.

JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER

W

est Bloomfield and
Southfield police de-
partments are investi-
gating the possible link
between two recent jewelry store
armed robberies.
The most recent robbery took
place about 11:15 a.m. March 12
at Tapper's Diamonds and Fine
Jewelry in West Bloomfield. Two
men wearing ski masks entered
the store and fired one shot from
a 9-millimeter semi-automatic
handgun into a display case
filled with loose diamonds and
other jewelry. They grabbed an
undetermined amount ofjewels
and fled from the store.
The robbery took less than a
minute, said Lt. Carl Fuhs of the
West Bloomfield Police Depart-

ment. The thieves escaped in a
car which was abandoned less
than a quarter of a mile away.
That car had been stolen.
Lt. Fuhs said armed robberies
aren't high on the list of crimes
that occur in West Bloomfield,
especially in the Orchard Mall
where Tapper's is located.
"There hasn't been one there
in a couple of years," he said.
"We don't get a whole lot of rob-
beries around there."
Southfield police feel the
thieves may be the same indi-
viduals involved in another
crime which took place Jan. 30
at John Darakjian Jewelers on
Northwestern Highway between
12 and 13 Mile roads.
In that crime, two men wear-

Similar methods
in area robberies.

Southfield officers are worried
because of the shots fired. Police
feel it is only a matter of time be-
fore the violence used to break
open a case ofjewels is directed at
a person.

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"This is a little more brazen
than the usual jewelry store rob-
bery," Officer Harris said.
A second armed robbery in
Southfield took place five weeks
after the Darakjian incident a
few blocks up Northwestern at
Einstein Brothers Bagels. In
that incident, three employees
were herded into a walk-in cool-
er by a masked gunman, about
20 years old.
Because of the nature of the
crime, Southfield police think
there may be a tie to the
Darakjian store robbery.
"I am not dismissing the fact
that this could be the same guy,"
said Officer Harris.
However, West Bloomfield po-
lice do not feel the bagel robber
was one of the men they are
seeking in connection with the
Tapper's crime.
"These guys were not after
bagels," he said. "They appear
to be professional jewel thieves."
A similar jewelry robbery took
place at a Service Merchandise
store in Troy last week. ❑

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eight days prior to issue
date. The deadline for out-
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a.m. Tuesday, three days
prior to issue date.

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