PALM COAST, Fla. – A man wanted in connection with a smash-and-grab jewelry heist in Flagler County has been arrested in Savannah, Georgia, according to authorities.
Tyrone Lamar Walker, 25, of Savannah, was arrested on charges of armed robbery with a weapon, grand theft over $20,000 and felony criminal mischief for the damage in connection with the August robbery at Kay Jewelers in Palm Coast’s Town Center.
The Flagler County Sheriff's Office, which released video of the robbery Friday, said Walker used a sledgehammer to break into a glass cabinet and took several necklaces as employees were nearby. No customers were in the store at the time of the robbery.
"We don't have very many armed robberies in Flagler County but this was a very bold one," Sheriff Rick Staly said.
Deputies said the video shows two men enter the store and attempt to take keys to the display from the employees. One of the men then takes a sledgehammer from his pocket and strikes the center display case several times, deputies said.
"Fortunately for us, when they broke through the glass, they got cut and they left some blood behind," Staly said.
Blood collected from the broken glass on the display case was submitted for DNA analysis, leading authorities to Walker, who was in the Chatham County Jail on a separate offense, sheriff's officials said.
Deputies said Walker confessed to the robbery but refused to provide any information about the other man. Flagler detectives continue to work with the Savannah Police Department to identify him.
"This is another outstanding job by our detectives,"Staly said. "Sometimes these cases take a while to solve, but we continue to work them using every thread of evidence we have to build the case.
The sheriff said his detectives won't stop until Walker's accomplice is also identified and arrested.
"What he doesn't know is, that we are eventually going to get his partner, and then they can have side-by-side jail cells in my Green Roof Inn," Staly said.
An investigation is ongoing and additional charges are possible.