Dr Pepper Arena Reopened As Search For Robbers Continues
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FRISCO (CBSDFW.COM) - A manhunt continues in Collin County, but police have reopened the Dr Pepper Arena and its' nearby garage. Early Friday afternoon police evacuated the building and the parking structure as they searched for several armed robbery suspects.
For hours officers went going level-by-level in the garage and room-by-room inside the building to make sure the suspects weren't inside.
The manhunt began after police got a call that thieves had just robbed a jewelry store near Stonebriar Mall. A spokesman for Markham Fine Jewelers said four hooded suspects surprised employees, smashed seven jewelry cases, grabbed as much merchandise as they could and fled.
Scott Groff works with the owner of the jewelry store. He spoke with employees who told him the four thieves seemed like they knew exactly what they were doing. "They were calm in what they did, their mannerisms and told the employees things like that to keep cool, nobody get hurt, so that it obviously appeared like this wasn't the first time they've done something like this."
An officer in the area saw the suspect vehicle on Gaylord Parkway and followed it to Dr Pepper Arena. The Frisco Police Department Special Operations Unit and K9 quickly surrounded the entrance of the parking structure, where the suspects were last seen in their vehicle.
Dallas Stars employees and other workers inside the Dr Pepper Arena Dallas were placed on lockdown until they could be safely evacuated and the building thoroughly searched.
Police barricaded off streets in the area and set up a mobile command center.
[tweet https://twitter.com/cbs11gabriel/status/599253051002630145]
A number of Dallas Stars employees and others inside were evacuated from the Dr. Pepper Arena and the facility was put on lock down.
Several Dallas Stars players were among those evacuated. Defenseman Jason Demers took a lighthearted approach in his tweets.
Police never found the suspects in the building, but did locate their abandoned car in the parking garage. Officials say the vehicle was stolen from another North Texas city and will "be processed for evidence as part of the continued investigation."
Friday evening it wasn't clear if the suspects had ever entered Dr Pepper Arena. Police say their investigation into the robbery and search for the perpetrators continues.
Anyone with information about the robbery or the robbery suspects is asked to call Frisco police at 972-292-6010. You can also send an anonymous tip to police by texting "FRISCOPD" and the tip to 847411 (tip411).
No one was injured at the jewelry store or at the arena. Workers were allowed back inside the building around 4 p.m.
Police said anyone attending the Friday night ballgame, at nearby Dr Pepper Ballpark, will be allowed to park in the garage.
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