Two robbers wearing ski masks and white overalls charged into a jewelry store in Kristiansand around lunchtime Thursday and held it up at gunpoint. Lots of shocked but resolute witnesses armed with mobile phones foiled their getaway.
“We heard glass shattering, folks shrieked,” one witness told state broadcaster NRK, while others reported how the two robbers threatened everyone in the area with sawed-off shotguns. While the clerk behind the counter was ordered to lie on the floor, the robbers broke glass display cases, grabbed their contents and shoved it into large bags.
Then they ran to a waiting car, with witness taking photos and video of it as well. Police had already been alerted and they managed to stop the car shortly afterwards. “We had good witness observations … they gave up without any drama,” police operations leader Ole Bjørn Kleivane told NRK.
The store targeted by the robbers, Askeland Ur og Smykker on the city’s busiest street known as Markens, sells exclusive watches in addition to jewelry and has been subject to robberies earlier. Police wouldn’t specify what the robbers had with them when arrested.
newsinenglish.no staff
