DIAMOND DISTRICT — The NYPD has identified a possible suspect in a Diamond District jewelry heist where $500,000 worth of gems were looted Tuesday afternoon, sources told DNAinfo New York.
Two men — one man posing as a well-dressed deliveryman, the other acting as a lookout — managed to empty a safe filled with watches and jewelry before slipping out of the building on 23 West 47th St. and disappearing. Heavily-armed NYPD officers closed off the block for hours as the building was searched for the thieves.
Sources declined to say how police obtained a name of the possible suspect.
Tuesday's heist occurred around 2:30 p.m. when the “deliveryman” was buzzed through a security door monitored by surveillance camera at Watch Standard at 23 W. 47th St., police said. He then pulled out a black handgun and demanded the four workers empty out the safe while the other robber remained in the hallway as a lookout, police and building workers said.
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.
Surveillance cameras, which are omnipresent in the Diamond District, captured numerous images of the suspects before and after the robbery, and police have released photos of them.
Diamond District workers recalled that Tuesday was a quiet day of business that turned into pandemonium when police officers with the Emergency Services Unit in full gear stormed the buildings ordering some workers to leave.
"They started screaming and yelling, 'Go out,'" witness Tony Jabaly said at the time. "They way they were acting you knew it was serious."
