4 Apprehended After $250,000 Jewelry Heist : Crime: Police say a department store employee was clubbed before teen-agers fled. Suspects caught after some of the loot is tossed from getaway car.

Four Los Angeles teen-agers--one a gun-wielding 14-year-old boy--were arrested Friday night after bursting into a local department store, where they smashed glass display cases and scooped up about $250,000 in jewelry and cash as more than a dozen horrified customers looked on, authorities said.

As police from three local departments followed on a winding pursuit through North County, the suspects began tossing “the loot” out of their car windows before they were finally halted in Anaheim, police said.

Although shaken, none of the customers was injured during the robbery. But the store’s 42-year-old jewelry manager was clubbed over the head with a hammer, “apparently because he couldn’t get the cash register opened fast enough,” police said. He was knocked unconscious and was treated and released from Friendly Hills Regional Medical Center.

Saturday morning, the store was open for business and store manager Mel Edwards said “everything is fine.” Edwards said the jewelry manager was released from the hospital Friday night.

“He’s fine,” Edwards said. “I think he will be A--OK. He was shook up. But even (the customers) who weren’t hurt were pretty shook up.”

La Habra Police Sgt. Phil Stufflebean said Friday’s incident was the second time this year that the Service Merchandise Store at 1621 W. Imperial Highway was hit by four jewel thieves. In March, Stufflebean said, another store employee was pistol-whipped in that holdup. Two suspects were later arrested in Los Angeles.

In Friday’s case, Joshua Smith, 19; James Brown, 18; and two 14-year-olds were booked on suspicion of armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. Smith and Brown were being held at the La Habra City Jail on bond of $250,000 each. The minors were booked into Orange County Juvenile Hall.

Police said four teen-agers entered the store about 8:30 p.m. and ordered customers to stand back. One of the suspects, whom police identified as a 14-year-old youth, brandished a handgun while others used hammers to smash the jewelry cases.

“Everybody sort of hit the floor,” Stufflebean said.

The bandits took necklaces, rings and watches, stuffing the valuables into pillowcases. After being ordered to open the cash register, the jewelry manager was struck on the head with a hammer, police said.

The four made their escape in a 1980 Oldsmobile that had been reported stolen from Downey earlier in the day. Police began trailing the car shortly after it left the store parking lot, and local authorities were soon joined in the chase by Fullerton and Anaheim police.

During the 10-mile pursuit, Stufflebean said, those in the car began tossing jewelry from the car windows. Along the way, a handgun was also thrown from the car. It was later recovered.

At one point, police blocked the entry to the Riverside Freeway in Anaheim at Euclid Street, when the suspects appeared to be heading in that direction.

“Blocking the freeway really helped wind this thing down,” Stufflebean said, adding that authorities believed the suspects were trying to make their way to Los Angeles. The car was stopped by a small army of police a short time later, at Euclid Street and Glenoaks Avenue, he said.