On 10/20/26 at 1254 hours, officers responded to Everest Jewels, located at 6679 Dixie Hwy in Fairfield for what turned out to be an armed robbery turned homicide. Video from the business showed two males enter the store, speak with the owner for several minutes before both pulled firearms on the owner. A struggle began between the owner and two suspects. During that time, one suspect fired a total of 8 rounds, 5 of those striking the owner and killing him. Both suspects proceeded to a back room and stole an undetermined amount of jewelry before fleeing in a black Chevrolet Equinox that was waiting in front of the business for them.

The two men entered with balloons, flowers and a cake, looking for jewelry for a family members birthday. This seems to be a trend due to a business in Baltimore County, MD being robbed the same way on 10/06. Two men walked in with flowers, cake, balloons and tied up the owners/employees with tape/zip ties as they robbed the business.

Through the investigation so far, we have found 4 vehicles and a minimum of 8 people involved so far. All have been determined to be Venezuelan males out of NJ and NY. All the vehicles involved either have NJ or NY plates, but mainly NJ. We’ve learned they come down several weeks ahead of time, scout the area, stay in local lower end motels and “rehearse” the robbery. Another crew will then come in and commit the robbery while another crew is stationed around the business AND the local PD for police response. One of the vehicles involved in our incident hit on a flock camera across the street from our PD.

Talking with agents out of NY and NJ, we learned they commit these robberies about every two weeks. They target Nepal Jewelry stores because they think the store owners and employees are involved in “criminal activities”, so they feel the business owners won’t report the robbery. Agents have identified a handful of suspects but say there are upwards of 40-50 people involved. Two who are currently in custody in NY, had images and videos of our business on their phones from September and October. They also had images from a Nepal business at the corner of Northland Blvd and Waycross Rd.

Flock hits on NJ and NY plates show being in surrounding areas such as Springdale, Forest Park, Colerain Twp, Springfield Township, Fairfield Township and Hamilton.

I would have your officers give extra attention to your Nepal Jewelry stores or any stores that have a decent amount gold.

If you have any questions, please reach out to me at 513-867-6005.

Bryan Carnes
bcarnes@fairfieldoh.gov
Fairfield Police Department