IN BRIEF : Robinson’s Held Up in Westminster

Robbers in ski masks held customers and employees at gunpoint and smashed the jewelry cases at Robinson’s department store in the Westminster Mall, escaping with an unknown amount of jewelry, police said today.

The men rushed into the store about 9 p.m. Tuesday, shortly before closing time. One man held employees and customers with a handgun while the other three shattered the cases and grabbed precious stones, gold and diamonds. The men fled through the west exit and were last seen getting into a dark, American-made station wagon, which was waiting for them, Westminster Police Lt. Mike Ratliff said.

The theft was similar to other recent jewelry robberies in Orange County, Ratliff said. In the past year, eight jewelry store robberies occurred in the county, four of them in malls.