Men kidnap 2 women, drive 100 miles before robbing jewelry store in Guntersville, AL

The Guntersville Police Department says officers responded to an armed robbery call at Griffins Jewelers Thursday about 10:23 a.m. Thursday morning.

Police say three subjects entered Griffins while armed and attempted to rob the store.

According to police, the manager was able to fire upon the subjects.

Staff Sergeant Joshua Aycock was next door in the Armed Forces Career Center when he heard gunshots coming from the jewelry store. He then saw and heard commotion from the parking lot and went out to see 3 men trying to get into a white van with boxes of jewelry.

"The jewelry store owner had run outside and was chasing them and we made sure he was alright and he was like 'yeah we just got robbed at gun point'," Aycock said.

Aycock and other eyewitnesses believe one of the robbers was shot while trying to get away, leading them to fall and spill jewelry across the parking lot.

“I yelled hey and he turned around and looked as they took off," Aycock continued, "right before they took off we had heard the second shot before that man fell towards the ground," Aycock said.

Aycock says the robbers left behind a hat and gun before fleeing the scene along with the jewelry they spilled. Two Griffins workers were in the store during the robbery but they were not injured according to Aycock.

After fleeing the scene in a white van southbound on Highway 431, police say officers discovered the vehicle in a Lowe's parking lot just down the street.

Officers performed a felony take down on the vehicle and found two missing females from Brighton City.

According to the Brighton Police Department, the two missing females were kidnapped at 4500 Bessemer Super Highway about 5:20 a.m. The women are 29 and 33 years old.

Brighton police say the men who kidnapped them forced them into the women’s vehicle and then fled the scene.

One Guntersville woman who lives nearby to Big Spring Village Shopping Center was shocked to hear about the robbery and kidnapping. Lynn Bond says a crime of this magnitude is not common in Guntersville.

"You just don’t hear about people robbing people around here," Bond continued, "stealing stuff out of stores maybe so but going in with a gun, that is very unusual for around here and I don’t know why anybody would want to do that," Bond said.

The suspects are not in custody at this time.

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