The NYPD has shut down 47th Street in between Fifth and Sixth Avenues while they search for a pair of men who robbed a jewelry store on that block in broad daylight. According to the police, the suspects walked into the eighth-floor business at around 2:30 p.m., pistol-whipped the owner, and made off with an unknown amount of jewelry.
The police seem to believe that the men are still in the building, though it’s possible that they made it outside. SWAT teams and members of the NYPD emergency service unit are searching it floor-by-floor. DNAinfo spoke to a man currently stuck inside:
“They barricaded us in here,” diamond merchant John Kemanjian, 42, said from his office in the building’s 7th floor. “They have cops and dogs all over the hallway. It’s a little scary. We’re sitting on a lot of valuables.”
“We were told by management to stay in our offices because they’re still in the building and they’re armed,” he said.
“They don’t know where they are,” Kemanjian said. “They could be in my neighbor’s office.”
We’ll update when we know more. Meanwhile, here’s what the scene outside looks like:
Update: The two robbers were still at large early on Wednesday morning. Police said one entered the building by posing as a delivery man, and the other served as a lookout. Surveillance video shows them escaping toward Sixth Avenue, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Police say the gunman is African-American, about 6 feet tall, and in his 40s or 50s. He was wearing a black trench coat, light-colored pants and a tweed-colored Kangol hat. The lookout is African-American and about 30 to 40 years old. He was last seen in a red baseball cap, a black zip-up hoodie, black True Religion jeans, and black sneakers.
