Lured by criminals with the promise of easy cash, four teens were talked into holding up an Oakridge Mall jewelry store in a brazen robbery in which several gunshots were fired, Vancouver police said Thursday.
Three teens have been arrested, said Sgt. Dale Weidman, but the masterminds who recruited them are still walking the streets. The promised cash was never paid.
Weidman said police have a good idea of who put the teens up to the crime. He said it was not gang, nor organized crime.
On Sept. 30 at 8:30 p.m. a teen entered Montecristo Jewellers pretending to be a customer. He pulled out a gun and fired several shots.
Two other teens assaulted the security guard outside the store and doused him with pepper spray. The three ran off with merchandise and were picked up by a fourth youth in a red van outside the mall.
One of the alleged robbers, a 15-year-old Surrey boy (he turned 16 last week), was arrested at the scene.
Two others, a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old from Vancouver, have since been arrested.
