Family grateful after armed robbery at Clarkston store
The family of a Clarkston jewelry store owner are counting their blessings after a father and son survived an armed robbery Saturday in which the father was shot in the back yet still managed to chase the two assailants and help catch one.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office say two men held up Clarkston Jewelry Outlet on Dixie and White Lake Road around 4 p.m. Saturday.
The armed suspects rushed into the business where store owner Daniel Chiappelli, 51,and his 20-year-old son, whose name was not disclosed, were working. The suspects took an unknown amount of cash and jewelry and a handgun from the safe. The elder Chiappelli got into a physical confrontation with one of them when he was shot in the back, his wife Tracy Chiappelli said Sunday during an interview.
Despite the wound, Daniel Chiappelli left the store and got into his pickup truck to chase the suspects. He saw the suspect vehicle stopped at the Lakeview Cemetery and attempted to block the vehicle when one of the suspects got out of the car and fired two to three rounds at Chiapelli that missed him.
Chiapelli then drove his car and rammed it into the suspect vehicle. One suspect who fled on foot was taken into custody by responding sheriff’s deputies. He was still armed with one of the guns, a loaded Ruger 9mm semi-automatic pistol,.
The second suspect fled into the cemetery and escaped across a frozen Middle Lake, police said. In the 6000 block of Middle Lake Road, the suspect entered an attached garage through a window he broke out and was able to steal a 2014 Jeep Cherokee that had the keys in it. The homeowners were not home at the time. He is still on the loose, police said.
Daniel Chiappelli was back home Sunday afternoon.
“We are just grateful to have them home,” Tracy Chiappelli said. “To me, they both acted like heroes.”
Two handguns and the victim’s handgun were recovered, and all of the jewelry and money taken in the robbery. The Sheriff’s Office said there is video of the incident but it cannot be released at this time because the agency’s computer crimes unit is processing it.
laguilar@detroitnews.com
Twitter @LouisAguilar_DN