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Boardman police have a suspect in jewelry store heists
BOARDMAN
Township police now have a suspect in what they believe are related jewelry-store heists.
Police alerted area hospitals to be on the lookout for a man with a gunshot wound to the shoulder after an attempted burglary at Cirelli Jewelers on Market Street Tuesday night in which the business owner shot and injured a man attempting to steal nearly $100,000 worth of jewelry.
Beaver Falls, Pa., police alerted township police Thursday afternoon a man fitting that description showed up at an area hospital for treatment.
The man reportedly was shot after the owner of Cirelli saw him in the store via video surveillance after an alarm sounded. The owner then confronted the suspect as he attempted to leave the store. Fearing for his safety, the owner told police, he fired seven or eight shots, at least one of which hit the man.
Police are calling the man who showed up at the Pennsylvania hospital a suspect in the Cirelli Jewelers case, as well as an Aug. 1 theft from Tele-Gold, another Market Street jewelry store. Someone got away with nearly $8,000 worth of items in that case.
Officers likely will interview the suspect Friday, police said. They are awaiting DNA test results, which are being handled by the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, from blood found at the scene at Cirelli Jewelers.
Police do not believe a reported burglary at Direct Jewelry Outlet on U.S. Route 224 early Thursday is related.
They responded to that burglary about 2:30 a.m. Thursday when an alarm sounded. There, they found the front-door smashed and several jewelry cases shattered.
Stolen jewelry and personal items such as clothing reportedly were strewn from the scene to an adjacent parking lot, in the roadway and into Mill Creek Park near its golf course.
The business owner reported though the value of missing items was about $1,000, the cost to repair the broken cases would be several thousand dollars. Police do not have a suspect.