Armed men hit pawn shop in smash-and-grab robbery

HOUSTON

It happened at Valu+Pawn on F.M. 1960 West near Jones Road around 1pm.

Witnesses said the men entered with one intention: to take as much as they could as quickly as they could.

The mysterious robbers who hit the pawn shop tried their best not to be identified, witnesses said. They were covered in disguise from head to toe.

Workers at the pawn shop spent the afternoon cleaning up the big mess that was left behind.

Marco Aranda said his wife works in the store and called him in a panic.

"They heard a loud scream. 'Everybody get on the floor!'" Aranda said. "Everybody got paranoid, got on the floor. The guns were everywhere."

Aranda said the gunmen smashed several showcases in the shop as they terrorized the employees.

"Everything is broken. Everything is broken. They took all the jewelry," Aranda said.

Christina Turner works near the pawn shop. She said she saw the thieves jogging away, but didn't immediately realize there was a robbery nearby.

"I saw four men, all in white, pass my window, and I thought maybe it was like a movie," Turner said.

Turner said the suspects were in disguise, wearing white hazmat suits.

"You couldn't see their faces," she said. "They had black gloves on. Black shoes. They was carrying really big, black bags."

Several eyewitnesses said they watched the gunmen jog toward a getaway car waiting behind the strip mall.

A representative with Valu+Pawn said they turned over information that could help deputies identify the mysterious thieves, but they didn't give any details.

There were no reports of injuries.

Anyone with information about this case can call Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

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