Jeweler Shay Belhassen had just shown a customer some watches at his new showroom in Beverly Hills and sat in the elegant Il Pastaio restaurant across the street on Thursday when he looked into the eyes of three guys in sweatpants coming in. your direction.
“One of them ran and pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket, grabbed me from the back of the chair, choking me and putting a gun to my head,” Belhassen said in an interview with The Times on Friday morning. “Your two friends – one of them is pulling on my hand and the other is pulling on my watch.”
Belhassen said that instinct started from there.
“I took the gun with both hands and fought them on the ground,” he said. “At the end of the fight I ended up with the gun and they ran away.”
The gun went off in the fight, the bullet grazing a woman who was dining at the restaurant. A second person suffered minor injuries and some planters were crushed. The police invaded the area, isolating it while witnesses and onlookers gaped.
Belhassen said he was hurt – and angry. His rare and sophisticated watch is gone: a pink gold Flyback Richard Mille RM 11-03 chronograph, a watch popular with celebrities and a piece Belhassen estimated at $ 500,000.
Insurers can create their own numbers, he said.
Belhassen said that part of his anger is due to the fact that similar crimes have happened repeatedly in the area in recent weeks – few of whom have received as much attention as their situation – and he does not believe the police are doing enough about it.
Los Angeles police noted a trend towards theft of luxury watches in the area around Wilshire – part of a broader increase in thefts, many of which are ending in gunfire.
Belhassen said he is now offering a $ 50,000 reward for returning the watch. He doubts it will hit the market quickly, in part because its theft in the heart of Beverly Hills has attracted a lot of attention.
“It is a very rare watch, so whoever is going to receive the offer will know that stolen material is being offered,” he said.
Tennis star Rafael Nadal had a Richard Mille watch stolen from him during a tournament a few years ago.
Beverly Hills police said they believed the thieves who stole Belhassen’s watch were targeting him for the watch. Your investigation is ongoing.
The Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.