Jewelry store robbed in Downtown Brooklyn by men dressed as construction workers

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN (WABC) -- Police in Brooklyn are searching for the thieves wanted for a brazen and violent jewelry store heist.

The 67-year-old store owner was hospitalized following the robbery in Downtown Brooklyn.

Around 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Court Street Jewelers on Court Street, three men dressed as construction workers went into the store, took out a handgun and assaulted the owner.

In surveillance video obtained by Eyewitness News, a man is seen running away dressed in white. Next, three men are seen running off with bright yellow vests. Lastly, a man in a white shirt, said by witnesses to be the store owner, gives chase.

Eyewitness News has learned that once the men went into the store, they took the owner into the back, ziptied him and held him at gunpoint during the robbery. When they were done, they sprayed him with mace.

Police said one man dressed in a white protective/Tyvek suit stayed outside the store as a lookout. According to the NYPD, he obstructed the view into the store with an umbrella.

The men also used a fake sign that read "Danger asbestos. Men at work."

The men took more than $850,000 of jewelry, gold and cash from displays and a safe, police said, then fled northbound on Court Street.

The owner was treated for broken wrist and a cut on his head at Methodist Hospital.

Hard hats and construction worker clothes were found tossed by the entrance to the Borough Hall Subway Station.

One of the suspects left his Tyvek suit on the subway platform.

So far, there are no arrests.