Two individuals wearing facial coverings and armed with sledgehammers robbed the luxury Lux, Bond & Green Jewelry store on Main Street in downtown Westport on May 9.
According to a statement by the Westport police department, after racing off with an unknown quantity of jewelry in a robbery that lasted about 30 seconds, the suspects shortly left the area in a black sedan heading toward the town of Fairfield.
The robbery–especially the time it occurred in broad daylight–has shocked some Westport residents.
“It’s alarming that people feel fine with robbing a store at such a public time,” Cabry Lueker ‘24 said. “When I first heard about the robbery I thought it was something done in the middle of the night.”
Luckily, there were only a few people in the main room at the store during the incident. Additionally, according to the Westport police department the employees present during the robbery evacuated immediately to the rear of the store and nobody was injured.
Via security camera footage, the robbers can be seen smashing the display cases aggressively with sledge hammers at the empty part of the store. Over the course of two enclosures, one of the robbers moved to smash open the glass while the other utilized orange gloves to retrieve the jewelry.
Earlier this year, people were also alarmed at another daylight robbery in Westport that occurred in September, where two masked carjackers entered a garage and stole a convertible Aston Martin after engaging in a physical fight with the driver.
Notably, in late 2023, statistics from the Westport police department revealed that while crime decreased by 4% on the year, burglaries in Westport increased 13% from 37 to 42 incidents year over year and that destruction/vandalism to property accounts doubled from 26 to 52 incidents.
While statistics from the Westport police department showcased that the number of crimes had increased noticeably during the course of 2023, officers noted that there was also another reason for the rise in residential concern.
“I think the sentiment about the crime that is occurring and the increase in criminal activity in this community are both reasons why people are worried,” Westport Police Lieutenant Eric Woods said.
