Owner speaks out as police search for 2 men who robbed Pasco Camera store
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NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla (WFLA) — Police are looking for two men who they say stole from Pasco Camera Exchange in New Port Richey.

It happened around 9:30 a.m. Friday at the store off Main Street. Owner Jim Smetzer had just opened the store when two men walked in claiming to want to buy a camera.

“They said, ‘I’ll take that, and I’ll take that.’ I took a couple things over by the register,” Smetzer said.

The two men were in a camera store, under a lot of surveillance. Video shows one of the men reaching to grab a camera box off of the glass counter and knocking things over in the store.

“He’s grabbing it, I’m reaching to grab it back,” Smetzer said.

One of the men is then seen jumping over the glass counter, and Smetzer tried his best to keep them from running out of the store. He even grabbed one of the men by their back.

“The policeman kind of was like, ‘You know you really shouldn’t be chasing after them,’ but instincts you know, no you’re not taking my stuff, I got to stop you whatever I can do,” Smetzer said.

The men got away with a camera and a lens, with a value of $4,000. The loss will affect Smetzer’s business, but he said it’s more of an emotional cost.

“It’s frustrating that people will think that you know whatever they can get away with, whatever they can take is there’s and they’re justified to do it,” Smetzer said. “It was pretty shocking, and you know I got down, I was breathing hard like really what happened.”

This was the first time something like this has happened in the 30 years the store has been open.

Police said the men drove away in a dark-colored Mazda. They were last seen going north on US-19.

If you have any information on this case, you are asked to call New Port Richey Police at 727-841-4550.

A nearby store owner told News Channel 8 On Your Side they have a $1,000 reward for the person with information on the case.

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