VIDEO: Thieves target jewelry store at Erin Mills Town Centre in Mississauga

Six masked culprits who burst into a west Mississauga jewelry store on Thursday night, smashed display cases with hammers and then fled with an amount of valuables are being hunted by police.

Peel Regional Police said the latest such “smash-and-grab” robbery, of which there have been numerous the past six months in Mississauga and across the GTA, targeted the Charm jewelry store inside Erin Mills Town Centre on the mall’s upper level.

With their faces concealed, the thieves entered the shop a few minutes before 8 p.m. and quickly began smashing display cases with hammers, Const. Tyler Bell-Morena told insauga.com in an email.

They stole “various jewelry items before fleeing the mall,” he added.

Nobody was hurt in the heist, which may have been caught on video by a bystander (see social media post below).

While police couldn’t confirm if what the 48-second video captured was the unfolding of Thursday night’s robbery, they did note the heist targeted Charm, as the footage shows.

Lawless 🇨🇦

📍Erin Mills Town Center, Mississauga pic.twitter.com/W523dP8ugp

— Shazi (@ShaziGoalie) May 10, 2024

The video, posted by a social media user who goes by Shazi, shows five or six culprits who are masked and dressed in black enter the store. They’re then seen smashing the cases and then, two at a time, running out of the store and past stunned shoppers and a man who appears to be a security guard.

Several mall shoppers can be seen turning their heads to catch a glimpse as the bandits flee past them, not sure of what they’re witnessing.

Numerous similar “smash-and-grab” heists have targeted jewelry stores in Mississauga, Brampton, Toronto, Halton, Durham and St. Catharines, among other places, the past half year or so.

Investigators with various law enforcement agencies have been comparing notes in attempts to track down those responsible for the multiple robberies in different regions, believing the same bandits are likely involved in at least several of the heists.

Bell-Morena said when investigators check with their police colleagues in other regions, “we very much expect to see these guys also responsible for other (similar robberies)” in the area and across the GTA.

A number of the robberies have been caught on store surveillance video.

Police said earlier that in most, if not all cases, multiple masked culprits burst into stores and begin smashing display cases with hammers as frightened customers and employees flee the shops.

The culprits then flee the store on foot, many of them to waiting getaway cars.

Video stills below show what appears to be the robbery unfolding.