Three arrested as staff foil jewellery store armed raid

Two suspected robbers were arrested and a third hospitalised today after a jewellery store owner, staff and onlookers bravely foiled an armed raid.

A gang with a shotgun walked into the Dawson Jewellers on Dublin’s Dawson Street but were beaten back.

Eye-witnesses said one of the employees screamed violently before owner Ken McDonagh grabbed the gun and a struggle broke out.

One raider suffered wounds to the head and was restrained in the store until gardaí arrived.

Michael Foggarty, from the Celtic Whiskey Shop opposite the jewellers, heard the screaming and ran after a second raider.

“The woman shouted and then one of them came out and started running down the street,” he said.

“I chased him down and he just stopped and looked at me. There was this guy on a motorbike and he just came up and hit him.

“He went down and that was that. And then we sat on top of him. He didn’t flinch.”

A third man also fled the shop but was detained after a female garda gave chase down Dawson Street and rugby tackled him to the ground.

Two men, aged in their 20s and 40s, were being questioned by gardaí at Pearse Street garda station while a third man, aged in his 30s, was being treated in hospital.

All three were being held under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act 1939.

The injured man was taken to St James’s Hospital.

Onlookers said two staff were in Dawson Jewellers when the lunchtime raid was launched, just two hours before almost 20,000 demonstrators marched through the capital.

Gardai were on the scene within minutes of the attempted heist at around 12.30pm.

It is understood the men calmly walked into the store before producing the shotgun.

They demanded staff hand over rings, bracelets and watches from locked cabinets before the owner stepped in.

Gardaí said the scene has been preserved pending a technical examination.

Detectives appealed for witnesses or anyone who was in the area to contact Pearse Street garda station.