Robbery at Kay Jewelers in Capital Mall

The Jefferson City Police Department confirmed that a man was inside of Kay Jewelers on Thursday when he threw a substance at an employee and ran off with a necklace.

The incident happened around 1 p.m. Detectives from the police department were on scene investigating for several hours.

A JCPD officer did not have any information on the substance the suspect threw at the clerk, but said the clerk was taken to the hospital following the incident. Later, the store manager told ABC 17 News the clerk was okay.

Police said detectives were looking at video surveillance from other businesses inside the mall. A suspect description has not been released.

So far this year, 18 robberies have been reported to the Jefferson City Police Department.
That does not include Thursday’s robbery at Kay’s Jewelers nor the armed robbery at the Verizon Wireless store on Missouri Boulevard last week.

ABC 17 News looked at Jefferson City robbery numbers from January through July from the past five years. This year’s numbers are down from the city’s highest in 2015 by 35%.

Past crime numbers also showed suspects used a gun during robberies at least 50% of the time. That’s not the case so far this year. Less than 40% of robberies have involved a gun.