5 guns at jewelry store robbery were salesmen’s, officer says
BY JIM BROOKS ARKANSAS Democrat-GAZETTE
All five guns recovered from the scene of a jewelry store robbery in March belonged to two salesmen who opened fire after thieves placed knifes against the men’s throats, a Little Rock police officer testified Thursday.
The detective’s testimony contradicted an initial account about the March 14 shooting outside Cecil’s Fine Jewelry at 10720 N. Rodney Parham Road.
Police said at the time that the salesmen and the robbers exchanged gunfire. But test results show that all 21 shell casings recovered came from guns belonging to the salesmen, detective Linda Keel said at a bond hearing for two men arrested in the case.
One thief was killed in the shooting, but no charges will be filed against the two salesmen because they acted within the law, prosecutors said.
In addition, Keel testified, the salesmen "said they felt someone was firing at them, so they returned fire."
The two salesmen, brothers Charles and Roy Hirschberg, both of Dallas, were licensed to carry concealed weapons, authorities said.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Bill James, who represents one of two men arrested in the case, Keel said the only weapon discovered in a getaway car was a knife used during the robbery. State and federal authorities speculated after the shooting that the robbers were part of an international ring of thieves that targets traveling jewelry salesmen. That possibility was not addressed during Thursday’s bond hearing for Raul Camaro and Jairo Martinez, who were arrested shortly after the holdup. Both remained in the Pulaski County jail on $1 million bond each.
The Hirschbergs had just left the jewelry store and were sitting in the car fixing a broken cuff link when two men approached their vehicle, broke out the windows and held knives to their throats, Keel testified.
Other robbers appeared and took from the back seat suitcases containing more than $600,000 worth of jewelry and loose gems.
One of the getaway vehicles, a rented Ford Taurus, crashed on Rodney Parham Road, and the occupants scattered. One robber was pulled into a dark van. Camaro and Martinez fled on foot, and police arrested them on Walnut Valley Drive a few minutes later.
Later that afternoon the van pulled up outside Southwest Regional Medical Center, where someone dropped off an injured man, later identified through fingerprints as Andre G. Felipe, 26, who died of a gunshot wound in the back.
Police said at least one robber and perhaps as many as three others got away.
In the days after the robbery, police referred to an exchange of gunfire outside the jewelry store, but all five guns recovered at the scene belonged to the Hirschbergs. Police speculated that the robbers might have taken some of the weapons from the salesmen during the robbery.
"It was very confusing out there at the scene," Sgt. Terry Hastings said at the time. "The back window of the Taurus was busted out, and we had both victims saying they were shot at first."
Hastings said Thursday that detectives had to wait until they received ballistics results from the state Crime Laboratory before they knew which weapons were involved.
Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Johnson said that while no evidence shows that the robbers fired guns, the Hirschbergs acted reasonably.
"The Hirschbergs said they heard a noise that they recognized as a gunshot before seeing the window of the Taurus shatter," Johnson said. "They returned fire, believing that they had been shot at."
Little Rock defense attorney David Cannon, who represents Martinez, offered another possible explanation.
"I believe the evidence will show that one of the Hirschbergs started firing and shot out the back window of the Taurus and the other one assumed that they were being fired upon, so he opened up," Cannon said, adding later that one of the salesmen emptied the clip of his 9 mm Glock semiautomatic and reloaded before firing more shots.
Johnson said, however, that state law doesn’t require that people actually be fired upon before they are justified in using deadly force.
"If you reasonably believe that your life is in physical jeopardy, then you’re justified in defending yourself," he said.
Arkansas Code Annotated 5-2-206 states, in part, "a person is justified in using physical force upon another person to defend himself or a third person from what he reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of unlawful physical force by that other person."
The Hirschbergs couldn’t be reached for comment Thursday. Shortly after the shooting, Charles Hirschberg declined to talk about the robbery other than to say that he followed his insurance company’s advice on how to handle the situation.
An insurance company representative, however, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that salesmen are urged not to resist in robberies.
Prosecutors noted Thursday that the robbers could have used guns that have not be recovered. Revolvers, for instance, don’t eject casings after they are fired.
The men also could have ditched weapons as they ran, or their weapons might have been in the van that was never found after the robbery, they said.
But no bullets or bullet holes were found in the Hirschbergs’ car or near it, according to testimony Thursday.
Camaro, 25, lists his birthplace as Madrid, Spain, and initially told police he was from New York City but didn’t provide an address. Martinez, 28, listed his birthplace as Mexico.
He, too, didn’t give police an address, although he said he lived in Dallas.
The men are scheduled for a June 15 trial. Each faces two counts of aggravated robbery, theft of property and one count of manslaughter in the death of Felipe.
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