Smash-and-grab burglary reported on King Street

St Augustine police reported to Historic City News that on February 19, patrolmen responded to “Churchill and Lacroix Antiquaire”, located at 75 King St, Suite 121, to investigate a burglary.

The owner of the store in Suite 119 told police that she was closing up her shop when she heard a loud crash. She reported that, at first, she froze for ten or fifteen seconds, then she ran out of her shop to see what happened.

She saw two white males; one was standing in front of her husband’s shop at Suite 121, a few doors south of her shop. He was holding a piece of wood in his hand. The other white male was standing in front of the restrooms approximately 20 to 30 feet south of her husband’s shop.

She yelled, “What happened?” One of the men backed away, still holding the piece of wood. He picked up a mountain bike style bicycle and placed the wood on a concrete bench. He responded saying that he didn’t know what had happened.

According to the shop owner, the man rode away on the bicycle towards the southwest exit of the courtyard, stopping first to pick up the other man.

A witness described the man holding the wood as a white male, five-feet-seven inches tall, approximately one-hundred fifty pounds with salt and pepper hair, ruddy complexion and a handlebar mustache. He was wearing a red baseball cap, dark colored bomber style jacket, blue jeans and light colored sneakers.

The second man was described as a white male, over six-feet tall, very thin, wearing a long coat down to his knees, and a dark woolen cap.

After several minutes, the second shop owner arrived on scene. He attempted to assess the damage. At this time the items known to be damaged include: one large storefront window, one glass-top display case, one print of a painting, one gold colored candelabra, one Chinese figurine, and one blown glass clown figurine. The owner advised several rings appeared to be missing from the display case, however, he could not verify which rings were missing until he was able to clean-up and inventory the case. He advised that he would have to provide that information at a later date.

As he attempted to make arrangements for the shop to be secured, police searched the area for items of evidentiary value. A brick was found inside the store. The brick appeared to be used to break the window. I attempted to lift latent prints from several items to include a glass figurine and the glass display case. No prints of value could be obtained. The owner said that he does not have video surveillance of the shop.

Several police officers canvassed the area around 75 King Street and Lincolnville, searching for the suspects. The searched produced no results. At this time, neither of the men has been identified and all officers are still on the look-out. Photos of the damage and the 2″ x 6″ board held by the suspect were submitted into evidence.