Little Rock, Arkansas

From Little Rock‘s KATV.com of March 15, 2005

Police Continue to Search for Suspects in Attempted Jewelry Robbery

Several suspects are still on the loose Tuesday night after police say they tried to rob two jewelry merchants in Little Rock Monday afternoon. Up to seven suspects were reportedly involved. Two are in custody, one was shot and killed, and three or four others are still on the loose.

Twenty-eight-year-old Jairo Andres Martinez and 25-year-old Raul Adolfo Camaro were arrested Monday afternoon on charges of aggravated robbery, theft, and manslaughter.

Police say the two men plus four or five others, tried to rob two jewelry merchants from Texas while at Cecil's Fine Jewelry in west Little Rock.
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A shootout began and the two merchants, who were also armed, shot back at the suspects. One suspect was hit in the shootout, dropped off near a local hospital, and later died.

From the Memphis Commercial-Appeal of May 7, 2005

Gem salesmen fired all shots during botched Ark. robbery

Two jewelry salesmen who resisted a robbery attempt outside a west Little Rock jewelry store in March were apparently well-armed.

All five guns confiscated after the botched robbery on March 14 belonged to the two salesmen, according to testimony Thursday by Detective Linda Keel, and all 21 shell casings found at the scene had been ejected from those five guns, she said.

Keel testified at a bond hearing for two men arrested in the case. One man died at a hospital after the shootings, and two others remain at large.

Police had said at the time that the two salesmen -- brothers Charles and Roy Hirschberg, both of Dallas -- exchanged fire with the five robbers. But test results found no shell casings that had come from any gun other than the five belonging to the brothers.

Prosecutors say no charges will be filed against the salesmen because they acted within the law. The Hirschbergs were licensed to carry concealed weapons, authorities said.

Keel testified that the brothers said they believed someone was firing at them, so they returned fire.

She said the only weapon discovered in a getaway car was a knife used during the robbery.

Andre G. Felipe, 26, died after the shootings. Police said he was one of a group of five men who accosted the salesmen in a parking lot outside a jewelry store where the salesmen had just shown their goods. The men grabbed the bags containing the salesmen's merchandise, and the salesmen opened fire with guns they were carrying.

The robbers fled in a van and a car, but the car crashed nearby and two men were arrested. All of the stolen jewelry was recovered from the crashed car.

The two men arrested, Raul Camaro and Jairo Martinez, remain in the Pulaski County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond each.