A gang of five thugs, armed with sledgehammers, roared up to the Ernest Jones jewelery store located in London’s prestige shopping district, High Street Kensington. The five guys hopped off their bikes and used their mauls to smash through the display window, where they proceeded to grab display cases of watches until the public got involved. A gang of normal citizens chased the crooks off, grabbing one off the back of a bike and wrestling him to the ground until police arrived. The other four thieves fled to a nearby park, where three were apprehended.
“When one of them tried to get away a group of people surrounded him and closed his way,” said Charlie Masud Riyahi, one of the leaders of the vigilante justice mob. “He was trying to scare us with the sledgehammer. But when he got on the motorbike, someone knocked him off. I jumped on his back and pinned him down to the ground. It was all over in a fraction of a second. I used to do wrestling so it was really easy. I wasn’t scared of him at all and after that other people came to help me.”
Amazing, isn’t it? Someone could have been seriously hurt, but when people work together for a common, positive goal (rather than stopping to take some loot themselves), good things happen. Kudos to the bystanders who helped out, and here’s hoping they catch the fifth guy.
Tags: London, England, Ernest Jones, High Street Kensington, sledgehammer thieves foiled by passers-by, citizens stop sledgehammer robbery, sledgehammer robbery foiled, unusual crimes, law and order, mob justice, everyday citizens foil robbery, dumb criminals