Investigators Looking at Possible Links in West Bloomfield, Western Michigan Jewelry Store Heists

Customers and employees were ordered to lay on the floor by a trio of suspects who, armed with semi-automatic handguns and a hammer, held up the tony Tapper’s Diamonds and Fine Jewelry in West Bloomfield late Tuesday afternoon.

An employee of the store was ordered at gunpoint to open a merchandise case and the suspects looted it before fleeing in the incident that occurred about 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, the Detroit News reports.

No one was injured and no shots were fired. Authorities didn’t say how much merchandise they got away with.

A similar incident occurred in Kent County in western Michigan and West Bloomfield authorities are collaborating with investigators there to determine if the two incidents are related, The Daily Tribune reports.

The suspects in the West Bloomfield robbery fled in a newer model, dark-colored minivan, believed to be a Chrysler Town and Country. A similar getaway vehicle used in the Kent County heist. The physical descriptions of the suspects, though vague, are similar in both holdups.

All  three were African-American men who wore dark clothing. One of the suspects was described as being about 6 feet tall with a heavy build and full beard; a second was of medium build, wearing black and red gloves and a bandana over his face; and a third man was also said to be of medium build, wearing black and white gloves, and wearing a bandana over his face.