DIAMOND DISTRICT — A pair of robbers pistol-whipped a jewelry merchant and grabbed a handful of gems from a safe before slipping past a police barricade in a West 47th Street building Tuesday afternoon, the NYPD and witnesses said.
One of the men posed as a delivery person and was buzzed through a security door monitored by surveillance camera at Watch Standard at 23 W. 47th St. about 2:30 p.m, police said. He then pulled out a black handgun and demanded the four workers inside empty out the safe while the other robber remained in the hallway as a lookout, police and building workers said.
Some of the workers inside yelled out for the store's owner to call police. When the owner entered the store the armed robber struck him in the head with his gun, Manhattan Chief of Detectives William Aubrey told reporters outside the building.
The store owner was not seriously injured.
Police responded directly, locking down the entire building and cordoning off the block to trap the gunmen, witnesses said.
An hour later, police were still searching the building, telling some tenants to stay inside their offices and evacuating others.
"They barricaded us in here," diamond merchant John Kemanjian, 42, said on the phone from his office in the building's seventh floor. "They have cops and dogs all over the hallway. It's a little scary. We're sitting on a lot of valuables."
"We were told by management to stay in our offices because they're still in the building and they're armed," he said.
By 5:30 p.m., police said the suspects were gone. Investigators could be seen checking street surveillance cameras hoping to identify the suspects.
Diamond District workers said that a quiet day of business turned into pandemonium when police officers with the Emergency Service Unit in full riot gear stormed the building ordering some workers to leave.
"They started screaming and yelling, 'Go out,'" witness Tony Jabaly said. "They way they were acting you knew it was serious."
Police turned Midtown into a frozen zone, blocking off 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues and surrounding the store's building.
"The whole block is completely crippled," Kemanjian said.
Police described the armed suspect is 6-feet tall, 40 to 50 years old, bald and with a goatee. He was wearing a white button-down shirt with a dark tie, black Kangol hat and trench coat, according to police. He was carrying a black shoulder backpack with the letter "K" within a blue circle on it.
The second suspect is described as very tall and 30 to 40 years old. He was wearing a red baseball cap, black True Religion jeans and black sneakers, police said.
— Additional reporting by Murray Weiss