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BSO: Armed Men Raid Pawn Shop, Grab $217,000 In Jewelry Cash

PEMBROKE PARK (CBSMiami) – Police are looking for two armed men who rushed into a pawn shop and forced employees and a customer into a back room while they rummaged the store for jewelry.

The armed robbers, according to Broward Sheriff's Office, got away with cash and approximately $212,000 worth of jewelry from Lucky's Pawn in Pembroke Park on December 28 around 7 p.m.

One thief, police say, carried a gun in a holster and another in his hand.

One of the armed men was dressed in all black, including black sneakers with white trim, gloves, sunglasses and a black baseball cap with a red lid and writing on the front. He went around the store and shoved two men and one woman into the room with the safe, forcing two of them on the ground.

WATCH WEB EXTRA:  Armed Pawn Shop Thieves Caught On Surveillance Tape 

Joanne Mancino works at Willy's Bar which is a few doors down.  She told CBS4 News reporter Maggie Newland that a number of businesses in the same strip mall have been robbed over the past year.

"My boss was pistol whipped and almost robbed...  they had him down on the ground they were beating him he had a gun right to his head," Mancino told Newland.

Investigators can't say whether the robberies are related, but several people who work in the strip mall said they're nervous.

"I think it's horrifying and everybody's really concerned," said Mancino.

Police said that in minutes the man grabbed cash and rings, bracelets, earrings, watches and necklaces with emeralds, diamonds and onyx.  Also stolen from the store was a ring shaped like a cougar, another in the shape of a cross, a heart pendant with the word "love" and another that says "#1 Grandma."

The thief's armed accomplice, also dressed in black, kept watch while the whole thing unfolded.

Several surveillance cameras captured the crime. BSO is asking anyone with any information to contact Detective Scott Nida at (954) 321-4249 or report anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers of Broward County at 954-493-TIPS (8477) or online at www.browardcrimestoppers.org.

Crime Stoppers will pay up to $3,000 for information that leads to an arrest.

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