Police identify suspect in hammer-wielding jewelry store robbery

London police have identified a suspect in a smash-and-grab robbery at a jewelry store that was captured on video.

A man entered a jewelry store in White Oaks Mall on Wellington Road around 4 pm Wednesday, damaged property with a sledgehammer and stolen items before running away, police said. Nobody was injured.

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An employee at a nearby business recorded a video of the brazen crime that went viral after it was posted on TikTok, a video-sharing mobile app and website where the clip had been viewed 1.5 million times by Friday.

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Investigators have obtained an arrest warrant for Trent Thorne, 23, of London on a charge of armed robbery.

Police released two photographs of Thorne – one is a mug shot, the other appears to be an image from surveillance footage – and asked anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact London police at (519) 661-5670.

“Members of the public were reminded not to approach the suspect and call 911 immediately,” Const. Matt Dawson, a police spokesperson, said.

London police have obtained an arrest warrant for Trent Thorne, 23, on a charge of armed robbery following a smash-and-grab robbery at a jewelry store in White Oaks Mall Wednesday. (London police photo)

Court records show Thorne previously was charged with robbery in August 2018. The charge was withdrawn on Jan. 30, 2019.

The video of the robbery shows a hammer-wielding man smashing a display case at a Peoples Jewelers store. The suspect, who is wearing a baseball hat, sunglass, gloves and a hoodie, drops his hammer, grabs the merchandise and runs away.

The 11-second video shows a man in a blue shirt with a radio walking toward the suspect as he flees through the mall.

Rezene Gebre, a cleaner at White Oaks Mall who identified himself as the man shown in the video, defended his actions after social media users, falsely assuming Gebre was a security guard, questioned why he didn’t do more to stop the fleeing suspect.

“I called security. The security asked me where he was going,” Gebre said in an interview Thursday.

JB