Smash-and-grab at jewelry store in Niagara shopping mall, suspects at large

There was another ‘smash-and-grab’ jewelry story robbery in the Niagara region, this time at the Pen Centre in St. Catharines, and the suspects are at large.

It happened on Monday night just before the mall’s 9 p.m. closing time.

Police say that five young men armed with hammers and carrying bags entered the Centre via a west side entrance.

They ran to the nearest jewelry store where they smashed the display cases and stole an undisclosed amount of items then fled via the same mall door they entered.

The suspects left scene in a black 2021 Honda Civic with Ontario licence plate DCPP 820. The car had been reported stolen from another region on Sunday.

Three of the young men were dressed in black, one wore a red hoodie and one was in a grey hoodie. All five wore face coverings or had their faces concealed by their hoods.

Detectives are asking anyone with phone footage or who parked along the west side of the Pen Centre between 8:30 p.m. and 9:05 p.m. and may have dashcam footage of the suspects entering or fleeing the mall to contact them.

Information can be called in to Niagara police at 905-688-4111, option 3, ext. 1008972.

READ MORE: Possible sighting of missing Dundas man in Milton on weekend