By Janice Morse
and Marie McCain
The Cincinnati Enquirer

SYCAMORE TWP. - Three "brazen" robbers held up a jewelry store Friday at Kenwood Towne Centre, and one of the masked bandits fired a gun outside, sending shoppers diving for cover, police said.

Video from WCPO

Just after 10 a.m., Hamilton County sheriff's deputies received calls that the Bailey Banks & Biddle store, about 100 feet inside the mall's main entrance, had been robbed.

An "errant shot" was fired skyward as the robbers fled from two security guards, said Steve Barnett, sheriff's spokesman. No one was hurt.

A sheriff's investigator looks at a vehicle left by three men who robbed Bailey Banks & Biddle jewelry store. (Glenn Hartong photo) | ZOOM |

Although the rest of the mall remained open, deputies blocked the Montgomery Road entrance for about two hours. The scene bewildered some customers. As shopper Marilyn Hoehne of Bridgetown arrived, sheriff's cruisers were speeding into the parking area, "two or three at a time," lights flashing and sirens wailing, she said.

"I wondered whether it was safe to go in," Ms. Hoehne said.

The robbers remained at large Friday night. They wore dark coveralls, gloves and ski masks, police said. All were black males:

One, armed with a semiautomatic handgun, was 5-feet-9, 200 pounds.

Another, carrying a small red duffel bag, was about 6-feet-2, 170 pounds.

The third was 6 feet tall, 170 pounds.

The men ordered two female clerks to open five jewelry cases, then took diamond solitaire rings and necklaces, along with TAG Heuer brand Swiss luxury watches, Mr. Barnett said. Value of the stolen items was unavailable Friday. Bailey Banks & Biddle's Web site, however, lists solitaires at $3,000-$28,000 and TAG Heuer watches at $1,895-$8,995.

The robbers left a black athletic shoe on the mall steps, a spent pistol cartridge in a handicapped parking space and a stolen maroon Buick Century with its engine running on nearby Styrax Lane.

Friday's robbery was "bold and rather brazen," Mr. Barnett said, because the mall was bustling.

An October 2001 robbery of the same store remains unsolved, he said.

Violent crimes inside shopping centers are highly unusual, said Patrice Duker, spokeswoman for the International Council of Shopping Centers in New York.

Among 757,000 violent crimes reported last year at more than 4,000 U.S. shopping centers, most occurred in parking lots and garages, according to the Department of Justice.

Despite the commotion at Bailey Banks & Biddle, customers were lined up next door at Godiva Chocolatier. In the food court below, kids posed with Santa Claus for photos.

"I'm not scared," said Lisa White, of Reading as she relaxed at a food court table. "I'm a little concerned, but for the most part I think this was an isolated incident."

Randy Tucker contributed. E-mail mmccain@enquirer.com and jmorse@enquirer.com.