The day before a 14-year-old launched an attack on his school reminiscent of the TV cult series American Horror Story, a man brandishing a shotgun and wearing a hideous mask inspired by the film “Scream” led a terrifying armed attack on a Lisbon jewellers.
They were “minutes of terror”, writes Correio da Manhã this morning.
Four men, all armed, ordered the son of the owner and three clients to the ground after bursting into Ouriversaria Júlia Toledo, in Quinta do Lambert, shortly after 5pm on Monday afternoon.
They then set about denuding the display shelves and boxes of jewellery.
The safe was open, writes CM, and thus it is still too soon for owner José Bernardino to quantify the value of what he has lost.
It is apparently the third attack on the jewellers in the last 10 years, and now no insurance company is willing to offer any kind of cover.
Bernardino reckons this latest attack may have stolen up to €20,000 in gold and jewellery.
He told the paper of a moment where one of the gunman had him on the floor of his office with his gun pointed at his face as he “violently pulled” a gold chain from around Bernardino’s neck.
It was a chain that had been in the man’s family for over 60 years.
He told the paper: “Even with the gun pointed at me, I asked him to give it back. The thief opened his hand and gave it back”.
The men then made off on foot, pursued by Bernardino’s son. They managed to get away in a “grey car”, writes CM.
PJ police are investigating.
According to CM, the latest report on internal security in Portugal shows 46 jewellery outlets were robbed in 2014.
