For Fadi Sahouri, the general manager of a Middle Eastern jewelry store in Bridgeview, July 13, 2023, began like any other Thursday.
His employees were busy setting up the store, filling display cases with fine jewelry stored in a vault overnight. But what seemed like a routine morning for Sahouri, who owns several stores across the Chicago area, took a dangerous turn.
About noon, three gunmen stormed through the doors of Jawahir Jewelry.
“I walked out to see what’s going on,” said Sahouri, who had been in his office. “As soon as I got to the door, he’s got a machine gun pointed at me and asking me to raise my hands.”
Despite having safety protocols in place, including a buzzer system to control entry, the first person approached the door and after it was unlocked, held it open for his accomplices to rush inside. The gunmen wore lifelike Halloween masks complete with hair and mustaches, making it difficult to identify them from a distance, Sahouri said.
“I started trying to calm them down. I told them, ‘Calm down. You’re gonna get what you need. Nobody’s gonna hurt you as long as you don’t hurt anyone. Just take what you want and leave,’” he said.
“There’s no amount of money on Earth worth me or my employees getting injured or killed,” Sahouri said. “I don’t care how much money I’m going to lose — nothing is worth any of us getting shot.”
Within four minutes, the robbery was over, he said.
A recent survey conducted by an independent research firm for security tech company Motorola Solutions found 57% of retailers in the U.S. felt unsafe heading into the holiday season. More than 1,000 retail managers and staff reported an increase in crime over the past year, with more than half expressing concerns about hostile customer interactions and store theft.
A review of suburban reports over several months indicates that attacks on retail workers have become more common, with crimes ranging from minor confrontations to fatal encounters raising concerns about the safety of both workers and customers in light of bolder retail thefts.
Crimes in recent police reports include an employee threatened with a handgun at a Homewood drive-thru window, an Oak Lawn Jewel grocery store worker pepper-sprayed while attempting to stop theft, an Oak Lawn 7-Eleven clerk punched and robbed of their cellphone after banning a customer, a Steger liquor store clerk slapped for refusing an exchange without a receipt, Burbank employees threatened with a knife at Best Buy and an Orland Park Ulta beauty supply store clerk threatened for rejecting a return without the original credit card.
In September, a 52-year-old worker at a Glenwood liquor store was shot and killed following an altercation with a Calumet City man over the price of a cigar and beer.
Other stores have been targets for armed robberies, including two recent crimes at 7-Eleven stores in Alsip and South Holland.
A 2023 report from the National Retail Federation found retail theft has become more brazen and organized, a reality Sahouri said was evident at Jawahir Jewelry. He said he believes the men planned the heist, as they knew exactly what to steal, where the most valuable items were and how the buzzer access system functioned.
Two recent studies by the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonprofit think tank, found shoplifting in Chicago from January to October 2024 was 46% higher compared to the same period in 2023. Reported shoplifting in the first 10 months of 2024 surpassed the total for all 12 months of each of the previous six years, the report found.
“Being in business has always been a risk, and it will always be a risk,” Sahouri said. “Whether it’s a jewelry store or a gas station or a cellphone store or a restaurant, you can get robbed at any given moment, and there is nothing you can do to prevent this from happening ever again, other than taking the precautions and doing what you can to make sure that you don’t get chosen.”
Some action has been taken on the legislative side and by law enforcement agencies to help curb retail crime rates.
Tinley Park and Orland Park held a southwest suburban safety forum Dec. 4, giving residents the chance to submit questions to be answered by the towns’ mayors and police chiefs. During the forum, the discussion touched on theft prevention and personal safety, especially during the busy holiday shopping season.
Tinley Park police Chief Thomas Tilton advised residents to stay aware of their surroundings, park in well-lit areas and avoid carrying too many items at once to maintain mobility.
“Christmas and holiday shopping comes down to self awareness, and by that self awareness we mean being aware of your surroundings and not making yourself a target for thieves,” Tilton said. “All the things that make you vulnerable make you an easy target.”
Advocates for retailers, such as Rob Carr, CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, say to engage in de-escalation techniques when confronted with potentially dangerous altercations, and to lean on law enforcement.
“A lot of retailers have taken to hiring security guards and that comes at a significant cost, and retailers, frankly, aren’t police,” Carr said. “We can’t detain like the police can. So again, as much as people want to say, well, the retailers should do something, the retailer is limited to what they can do.”
Tinley Park and Orland Park have taken steps to improve security and police response times, including implementing a video surveillance system called Fusus, which links the village’s cameras with those owned by businesses and residents.
The system is used at the Orland Square mall, and Orland Park police Chief Eric Rossi told residents patrols around the mall and throughout the village are increased during the holiday season.
Tom McNulty, executive director of the Tinley Park Chamber of Commerce, a business advocacy group, said working with local communities and departments is key in combating retail crimes.
“I think it’s just that general idea to protect yourself as well as those within your office, that has become more of a priority today than it probably has been in the past,” McNulty said.
Still, recent changes at the state and county levels could positively affect retail crime rates, Carr said, noting the creation of the Illinois Organized Retail Crime Association launched this fall. The group aims to streamline coordination by connecting businesses, loss prevention specialists and law enforcement, with the goal of combating organized retail crime.
Carr also praised newly elected Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke for lowering the threshold for charging retail theft as a felony to $300. This policy, which took effect Dec. 2, replaces the previous $1,000 threshold set by Burke’s predecessor, Kim Foxx, a spokesperson said.
But while officials aim to tackle theft, Carr said store owners ultimately have to stay vigilant.
“You might have to put merchandise away at night, think about investing in things like bollards and some alarm devices, just be more aware of what’s going on in their neighborhood and in their stores,” Carr said. “But at the end of the day, retailers are open facing to the public. They can’t hide behind gates like other businesses can. So there’s always going to be an inherent element of risk.”
The confrontation at Jawahir Jewelry marked the beginning of a string of targeted jewelry store heists the FBI says may be by the same assailants. After striking Jawahir, the gunmen targeted another Bridgeview jewelry store, Jerusalem Jewelry, in January, followed by Mariam Jewelry in Dearborn, Michigan, in August, and Dahab Jewelry in Winchester, Missouri, in September.
So far, only one person has been identified: Emad Elayyan, from Chicago Ridge. Elayyan has been charged with two counts of armed robbery with a firearm in connection to the Bridgeview robberies, police said.
Sahouri installed a second door with a buzzer system that prevents entry until the first door is closed. This new system is designed to prevent the type of theft that occurred last year, when one robber gained entry and held the door open as others rushed inside, he said.
“We do everything that we can to prevent this from happening,” he said. “But at the end of the day, the world has to keep rolling. No robbers, no thieves ever prevented people from living their lives. Stores need to open, businesses need to operate, and if it takes another door for us to do that. That’s what we did.”
smoilanen@chicagotribune.com
