Schaumburg police shared additional details Tuesday about their investigation into the burglary of more than $1 million in merchandise from Marquise Jewelers at Woodfield Mall.
Those details include that a security camera inside the store was covered when burglars entered the store after its closing Aug. 1 by breaking through the wall of a vacant space next door.
Though that camera did not record anything useful, a review of footage from other mall cameras is part of the ongoing investigation, Schaumburg police Cmdr. Christy Lindhurst said.
Police also revealed that the offenders first forced entry to the mall through the back door of a Sbarro restaurant, then went through a wall there to access the vacant unit next to the jewelry store.
Investigators also believe six people were involved in the burglary, based on a combination of surveillance footage and accounts from witnesses in the vicinity at the time of the burglary, Lindhurst said.
Marquise Jewelers co-owner Asma Anwar told the Daily Herald that the combination of property loss and damage is likely to be at least $1.5 million, but Lindhurst said investigators are awaiting an inventory of the stolen merchandise. Because of that, they have not yet adjusted their initial estimate of just over a $1 million loss.
A construction worker entering the vacant unit at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 2, saw and reported the damaged drywall.
Woodfield Mall management have declined to comment, directing all inquiries to Schaumburg police.
Anwar, who’s co-owned Marquise Jewelers with her husband Shazad Malik for 13 years, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The couple met working together at a jewelry kiosk at Woodfield before buying and renaming it, Anwar said after the burglary. They gradually expanded to three more kiosks at the mall, before last year leasing a storefront as their main location where all of its merchandise was ultimately stolen.
Anwar said the highly visible and regularly patrolled kiosks never sustained more than minor losses to theft over the years. The husband-and-wife owners are now looking to those kiosks as the means for their business to recover.
Meanwhile, Anwar hoped to learn more information about security from Woodfield Mall management as the future of the year-old Marquise Jewelers storefront is considered.