Employees Tried To Help Patrons Running Out Of Mall Following Smash-And-Grab Robbery
MODESTO (CBS13) — Shards of broken glass at a Modesto jewelry store are what's left of a robbery, originally thought to be something much worse.
"We had a customer here. He was panicked. He was crying," Fatima Rivas said.
"To have that fear and that feeling like what am I going to do with my kids? You know it's just...it's just bad," Yuritzi Arzate said.
Security cameras captured the suspects smashing the glass cases at Valliani Jewelry with sledgehammers, which made a noise a lot off mall-goers thought was an active shooter.
"And then we came outside and everybody was realizing it wasn't shooting," Esperansa De La Riva said.
De La Riva said she and others tried to help anyone they could.
READ MORE: Modesto Police Investigating Jewelry Store Robbery At Vintage Faire Mall
"It is just to go in the back and literally just grab everyone that we could in to and just wait for everything to calm down," De La Riva said.
And she wasn't alone. Arzate also rushed to help people take cover.
"People were so scared that they couldn't hear when we were telling them. 'Hey, you guys can come to the back,' They were running," Arzate said. "People they did hear as they came to the back and we came into over here."
Rivas tells CBS13 she and others have to be ready knowing this could have happened to any store, especially her jewelry store.
"Yeah we feel like we need to pay more attention and the mall needs to have more security," Rivas said.
Modesto police are still looking for these suspect. The Vallani jewelry shop was obviously closed on Monday following Sunday's incident. We tried to talk with some of their employees but were told they have no comment at this time.
