Police Looking for Man Who Tried to Rob Jewelry Store With BB Gun

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A man threatened employees with a BB gun at the high-end diamond store Rafaello and Co. Jewelry at 47th St. between Fifth and Sixth avenues late Sunday afternoon.

The suspect pretended to want to see a diamond in the display case, and when an employee went to the back to get the key, the suspect pulled out a BB gun and held it to a female employee's head, the NYPD said Monday.

The female employee, unnamed by the NYPD, was screaming for help to her co-worker, who then ran to the front of the store and fought the man for the BB gun. The suspect won grip of the gun and stepped back to use it, and it immediately fell apart, according to the NYPD. He then ran out of the store without the gun on 47th Street going east at around 4 p.m.

The NYPD is seeking the public's help in finding the suspect, whom they describe as a black man, 20 to 25 years old, 6-foot-2 and 160 pounds. The suspect was last seen wearing a black jacket, black pants, black shoes and a black baseball hat.

Patch reached out to Rafaello and Co. Jewelry, which said it would provide comment later today.

If you have information regarding this suspect or the incident, NYPD says to call its Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

Surveillance photos from NYPD

Image by Hustvedt/Wikimedia Commons/CC by 3.0