Jeweler talks about masked robbery and how his father’s gun helped scare off suspects
The suspects wore masks and wigs, and Ali Alasadi, the owner of Mariam Jewelry on Schaefer Road, felt like he was in a movie.
DEARBORN, Michigan (FOX 2) – When the suspects broke in, masked and armed robbers could easily have wiped out an entire family in their jewelry store.
“They came in holding the gun and a bag. It was a blue bag – and they had a hammer in it,” said Ali Alasadi. “They came running.”
The suspects wore masks and wigs, and Alasadi, the owner of Mariam Jewelry on Schaefer Road, felt like he was in a movie.
FOX 2: “Were you scared when all this happened?”
“Oh yes, they had a gun in their hand and shot it too,” he said.
The store is a family-owned business in Dearborn. And when this happened, Alasadi was there with his father and his 14-year-old brother, who luckily was in the back the whole time — when these two men broke in last week.
“They shot, they shot once, and then they told us, ‘Stay down, I’ll shoot you,'” Ali said.
He managed to get into the back room, the door of which was locked.
“I run and close the door,” Ali said. “But I don’t like that because my father was sitting over there.”
His father also jumped back to safety. The masked men stole an entire wall of gold into a duffel bag.
“Let’s say about $250,000,” Ali said.
His father returned to the jewelry department, this time with some reinforcements.
“My father opened the door and tried to get the gun and shoot up into the sky, up into the roof,” Ali said. “And one of them was standing right there, aiming at the door.”
He only fired warning shots. The three customers served as shields for the cowardly robbers.
“He didn’t want to shoot them, he tried to scare them,” Ali said.
They met their opponent, the warning shots were enough to frighten the men, but one of them dropped his travel bag in the shop.
“He told him to go back and get the bag,” Ali said. “Yeah, they’re stupid.”
They escaped – and got into a black sedan, a Mazda 3, probably a 2010 model, without a license plate.
Ali looks after him.
“When I go into a store or anywhere, I’m afraid they might know me,” he said.
Crime Stoppers is now offering a cash reward for information leading to an arrest in this case. If you know anything, call 1-800-SPEAK-UP.
