On the cusp of Valentine’s Day, a Mission Local reporter witnessed a man steal an $8,000 ring from Latin Jewelers on Mission near 19th Street around 5 p.m.
A youngish man in a black denim jacket appeared to be a customer, and asked to see a ring. He then snatched it out of a female store worker’s hands and ran out of the store. A male store worker gave chase, and later said the thief ran to a grey Lexus. The store worker then purportedly chased the Lexus in his own vehicle.
The female store worker told Mission Local the purloined ring was worth $8,000.
The male employee who gave chase snapped photos of the thief as he got into his vehicle and screeched toward 16th Street. The employee called the store from his vehicle to report that he got the man’s license plate.
Police were still on the scene 45 minutes later. The San Francisco Police Department has not yet returned our message.
This is a breaking story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
Erica, you really shouldn’t label this person a robber. Based on what you wrote in the article, it sounds like he committed grand theft and not robbery. If this person is later identified, you could do some real harm to his reputation by unfairly labeling him a robber and there may be serious consequences for your having done so.
Oh give it a break bro. In case it’s missing, maybe I can give you the letter “B” that you’re missing in your name.
A robbery normally happens when someone takes money or property:
directly from another person
without consent
with the intent to keep it permanently
by the use of or the threat of force
All of those conditions are met here. Snatching it out of someone’s hands is using force.
“snatched it out of a female store worker’s hands”…I guess I’d need some sort of formal training to know where the actual line of “using force” is, but wherever that line is, this sounds close or over it…