Four men executed a brazen robbery at a high-end bridal boutique in Friendship Heights in broad daylight Friday.
Janet and Paul Hill – a former D.C. police officer – witnessed the crime at Saks Jandel on Wisconsin Avenue. Paul Hill said he’s never seen a robbery so bold and so brazen.
“I’ve seen a lot of things, I’ve seen it on TV, but this is the first time in my whole police career – whether I’m a police officer or an ordinary citizen – that I’ve seen it in the flesh, someone go in with that kind of nerve,” Hill said.
The Hills were on their way to a doctor’s appointment when they saw four men pull up to the store in a Chevy Malibu, get out of the car, lock the car and enter the store. The Hills were suspicious immediately.
“Four big guys going into Saks Jandel, I said to myself, ‘Something’s going on,’ and when I said that my wife said, ‘Well, maybe they’re going in to rob the store.’”
In a matter of seconds they took several expensive handbags.
“They had their arms loaded from wrist to elbow,” Janet Hill said.
As the men made their getaway, a woman from the store tried to stop them. First she got in front of the Malibu. Then she tried to hold a door.
“And then she got back up on the sidewalk and then they sped away,” Janet Hill said.
At the Saks Fifth Avenue across the street, more than $75,000 in handbags were stolen on Aug. 19. It’s unknown if the robberies are related.
