Jewel Thieves Walk Into Police Stakeout

WESTFORD, Mass. — Three men who put on Halloween masks and tried to treat themselves at a jewelry store instead found a trick--12 undercover police officers waiting on a stakeout, officials said.

The men, carrying automatic weapons including a sawed-off shotgun, arrived Thursday night at the Diamond Jewelry store and ordered two clerks to kneel on the floor while they cleaned out their jewelry cases and vault, police said.

But 12 undercover officers, who were staking out the store because of a theft two weeks earlier, captured all three men in a brief gunfight that ended with one of the intruders getting grazed by a shot, Westford Police Sgt. Joseph Roy said.

“We were in the right place at the right time,” Roy said.