The fifth suspect in last November’s jewelry store robbery in downtown New Canaan shot himself in Brooklyn, N.Y. two weeks ago, officials say.
Ralik Hansen, 28, had been wanted for the brazen daytime Elm Street robbery on Nov. 6, 2013—it happened at 4 p.m. on a Wednesday. The fugitive committed suicide after a delivery service knocked on his front door and “Hansen erroneously thought it was the police coming to get him, so he shot himself,” according to a press release from New Canaan Police Chief Leon Krolikowski.
Police made the first arrest in the case in March, and three more in April, leaving only Hansen at large.
Police are searching for Courtney Hardin, a/k/a “Mozie,” 25, of Brooklyn, N.Y. in connection with the Nov. 6, 2013 daytime robbery of a jewelry store on Elm Street in New Canaan. Photo courtesy of the FBI
Krolikowski said Thursday that two more people—Ryan Campbell, 36, of New Jersey, and Courtney Hardin, 25, of Brooklyn—also have been indicted in connection with the robbery. Campbell is in custody and Hardin, pictured at right, is at large, Krolikowski said. Hardin is wanted by the FBI in connection with the “smash and grab” robbery of $700,000 in watches from a midtown Manhattan Cartier heist, according to the FBI.
“Hardin is a fugitive, is considered armed/dangerous, is being hunted down and will be brought to justice soon,” the chief said.
During the robbery, four men tried to enter the jewelry store “but were stopped when they could not open the front door because an alert employee had quickly locked the door,” Krolikowskis said. “One of the suspects shattered a front display window with a sledge hammer type tool. The suspect reached in through the broken glass and took three Rolex watches. The approximate value of the watches is $55,000.”
All four then ran behind a row of businesses and fled in what police believe to be a Chevrolet Malibu, possibly gold in color, with tinted windows and NY registration plates.
“Blood and skin tissue evidence was recovered at the scene of the crime,” Krolikowski said—producing a DNA match that helped fuel the investigation.
New Canaan’s downtown merchants in a survey last winter said they were concerned about safety, and town leaders responded by carving out a new role for a dedicated police officer in the business district, a role now filled by Officer Roy Adams.
The four suspects already arrested—Roberto Grant, Ronald McIntyre, Sean Robinson and Allen Willaims—have been federally indicted and arrested, and are in federal custody and awaiting trial, Krolikowski said.
Krolikowski said: “The success of this investigation is the direct result of the hard work and dedication of the members of the New Canaan Police Department’s Investigative Section and Patrol Division, the Connecticut State Forensic Laboratory as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Jewelry store robberies in Fairfield County towns have led to fatal shootings in recent years—including the February 2005 deaths of a married couple in Fairfield and the December 2011 death of a Westport jewelry store owner.