Two women loaded up with armfuls of clothing, not paid for, dashed out of a Jefferson County store and into a mini-van, hitting a parked Cadillac and store employee as they fled.
The chaotic grab-and-run shoplifting incident happened about 7:30 p.m. Thursday at a Burlington Coat Factory outlet, 8055 W. Bowles Ave., according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
A store security guard chased the pair in the store’s parking lot, grabbing clothing from one woman as she ran.
As the pair was running, with the guard in pursuit, a woman and her 19-year-old daughter pulled into the lot in a truck. The 19-year-old jumped from the truck and ran toward the fleeing shoplifters in an attempt to help stop them.
The two women jumped into an open side door of the van and scrambled into the front seats. The girl, unbeknownst to the pair, also jumped into the open door. The van sped from the parking lot, hitting a parked car and also a store cashier, who had left the store and got caught up in the mayhem. The cashier was knocked to the ground and suffered minor injuries.
About a hundred yards from the store’s entrance, the girl yelled at the van driver and her accomplice. The van stopped and the startled pair of shoplifters yelled back, commanding the girl to get out, which she did. She was not injured.
The mini-van, which had been reported stolen in Adams County, was found abandoned a few blocks away.
The sheriff’s office on Tuesday released a surveillance photo of the two shoplifters.
Investigators describe the women as Hispanic, one in her 30s while the other appeared to be in her late teens. The older woman has black shoulder length hair and was wearing a gray long-sleeve shirt and black pants. The younger woman has black hair, she was wearing a pink head band, a pink shirt, black-hooded jacket and jeans. She appears to have a tatoo above her left breast.
The sheriff’s office said anyone who witnesses a crime should always consider their own safety before attempting to intervene. Taking mental notes or cell phone photos, and not getting directly involved, could be a safer measure to aid authorities.
Anyone who recognizes the women, or who has information on the incident, is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 303 271-5612.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or @kierannicholson
![[prison 19] Caption: This is Cellhouse 1, Pod A, from ground level inside the Sterling Correctional Facility which is located outside of Sterling, Colorado Thursday afternoon. Photographer: LEW SHERMAN Title: FREELANCE Credit: SPECIAL TO THE POST City: Sterling State: CO Country: USA Date: 19990617 ObjectName: prison 19 Keyword: PUBDATE____1999_06_22](/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20151207__denverpostp1.jpg?w=538 "20151207__denverpost~p1.jpg")
