KATY, Texas – A smash-and-grab robbery in the middle of the day Friday inside the Katy Mills mall was caught on camera.
Surveillance video shows one of the two suspects, with a hammer in each hand, smashing a glass case inside the Jared Vault jewelry store shortly before 11 a.m. Friday.
It only takes the suspect about 20 seconds to scoop up and bag the valuables. Sources told KPRC 2 News among the jewelry taken were at least four Rolex watches.
Police said the other robber, mostly out of the surveillance video, was carrying a gun and watching the employees.
"There were two employees in the store. One of them was able to go into a back room, while the other one, they kind of forced her to kind of crouch down behind the display case," said Capt. Javier Martinez, with the Katy Police Department.
Police said no one was hurt.
"It was early, so there were no customers inside the store," said Martinez.
But there were customers inside the mall and out in the parking lot. They told police that a gray Chevrolet 4-door sedan was waiting for the suspects to help them get away.
Witnesses told police the getaway car was likely a gray Malibu or Impala with temporary plates, dark-tinted windows and no hubcaps.
Police are also looking into the possibility that the two men may be responsible for two similar robberies last month.
Katy police are asking anyone with information to give them a call at 281-391-4848.