Police investigating daytime robbery at Glebe jewellery store

The Ottawa Police Service is investigating a Thursday morning robbery at a jewellery store on Bank Street. (Brad Quinn/CTV News Ottawa)

The Ottawa Police Service is investigating a daytime robbery at a jewellery store in the Glebe.

Police say officers received a panic alarm for a business in the 700 block of Bank Street, near Third Avenue, at 10:25 a.m. Thursday.

“Upon arrival it was confirmed that the business had been robbed, all suspects are still outstanding at this time,” police said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa. “As the investigation is in the infancy stages no further details will be provided at this time.”

Several police officers could be seen Thursday morning at Davidson’s Jewellers on Bank Street.

An employee at Davidson’s Jewellers declined to comment to CTV News Ottawa, only saying the store would be closed.

A statement on the Davidson’s Jewellers Facebook page says, “Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are currently closed. We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Witnesses described a chaotic scene.

“I was in disbelief that this could happen as I was walking home because it doesn’t really happen in the Glebe,” said Peter Phillips. “I stopped walking and a man in all black came around the corner and I’m like 99 per cent sure had a shotgun. Right after that, two cop squads came down the road. They came down, screeched to a stop, got out, and ran down the street.”

Kelsey Payne, who works next door, said everything happened very quickly.

“The cop then started chasing after them and everybody kind of took off,” she said. “And then the response team, even with more cops, we had like 15 cop cars around us.”

Payne said she checked in with the neighbors, and everybody seemed to be fine.

“Physically, anyway,” she said.

“It was very, very frightening. Like, I’m used to working in downtown, but I find that Bank Street’s getting a lot more intense.”

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Natalie van Rooy