Santa Rosa jewelry store owner: 'I was the shooter' (w/video)

A jewelry store owner who defended his Santa Rosa business with a gun for the second time in less than a year said he was faced with a do-or-die decision when he returned fire at two suspected armed robbers Thursday afternoon.

“I was the shooter,” Ty Visscher said Friday evening, adding he did not want to share specific details while police continue to investigate and as one of the suspects remained at large.

“I was defending everybody who was in the store,” Visscher said. “I gave them (the suspects) the opportunity to drop their weapons and they fired at me. Thank god they missed. It was awful, horrible. But I would always put my life before the people I love.”

At least one of the suspects was hit by gunfire inside Bennett Valley Jewelers, in a strip mall on Yulupa Avenue on the southeast outskirts of Santa Rosa. That man, identified as Jimmy L. Terry, 43, was tackled by an off-duty police officer outside the store as the man attempted to flee. Terry was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with what were described with life-threatening injuries. He remained at the hospital Friday under police guard.

The other male suspect, who remained unidentifed Friday, fled in a red Ford Mustang, which authorties found abandoned nearby. A large search of the adjacent neighborhood, Annadel State Park and Spring Lake Regional Park did not locate the suspect, described as a black male with a large build and dreadlocks, in his early twenties.

Suzanne Dodd, an employee of Bennett Valley Jewelers for 13 years, was inside the store and was wounded by gunfired during the holdup.

“I will always be grateful to Ty. He did his best,” she said Friday.

Dodd, 64, was recovering at her Santa Rosa home from bullet wounds in both arms. She said she was exhausted and on pain medication and could not recall all the details of the robbery, which shattered a sunny, peaceful afternoon at the strip mall and sent shoppers and store owners running for cover and to lock their front doors.

Visscher, a second generation master jeweler who learned the business from his Dutch father and has co-owned the store for 28 years, said he was still reeling from the day’s events.

“You replay the incident over and over in your head,” he said. “It’s a sick feeling, it’s devastating. I’ve just been operating on pure adrenaline.”

Visscher, Dodd and one other employee were in Bennett Valley Jewelers Thursday at around 1:30 p.m. when two masked men, at least one who was armed, burst in. Dodd was held at gunpoint by one of the culprits.

“I was a human shield,” she said. “He kept saying he was going to kill me. He was very adamant about what he was going to do.”

Visscher said the men were aggressive and threatening. He did not say when or how pulled his own gun, but said that after he demanded that the armed robber drop his weapon, the man opened fire on him.

“I was shot at five times and missed by inches,” he said. Visscher said he then returned fire. He did not say how many times he fired or what type of gun he used.

“I’m not a cowboy,” Visscher said, adding that he would only use his weapon as a last resort. “I learned as a kid that a weapon can be an extension of your arm in a dire situation. But if you don’t know what you’re doing, they can be harmful.”

Initial police accounts offered few details. Officers reported an exchange of gunfire inside the store during which Dodd and at least one of the suspects was hit. Santa Rosa police said Friday that the other suspect may also have been injured by gunfire.

Terry, the suspect arrested at the scene, is an Oakland resident and was recently released from prison after serving a lengthy sentence for a home invasion robbery, police said.

The men appeared to be after one main thing: Rolex watches and other high-end time pieces, according to Visscher and Dodd. Bennett Valley Jewelers is the only authorized Rolex retailer in Sonoma County.

“God yeah, the most sought-after watch in the world,” she said. “They’re like a Mercedes. They hold their value.”

This was the second armed robbery at the store in little less than a year. After the last incident, Visscher said he had video cameras installed. His insurance company requested that he put in a buzzer-entry at the front door, but he resisted in large part, he said, because he wanted to preserve the inviting atmosphere of the business. Now he plans to have a locked front door installed.

“This is a really great neighborhood,” he said. “I didn’t want to have a place where I had to look you over before you entered my store. And now, unfortunately, that’s what it’s come down to.”

Detectives continued to look for the second suspect on Friday. Investigators believe the man left the immediate Bennett Valley area Thursday.

“We had the canines out there, established a perimeter, searched the neighborhood and the parks,” Santa Rosa Sgt. Lance Badger said. “We followed up on citizen reports of possible sightings. We didn’t have any active trails to follow, we exhausted them all.”

“We are actively looking for him,” Badger said.

The Santa Rosa Police Department is offering a reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to an arrest and conviction. The reward is funded by the Sonoma County Alliance’s Take Back Our Community program.

Anyone with information about the case can call the investigations team at 543-3590.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem. You can reach Staff Writer Elizabeth M. Cosin at 521-5276 or elizabeth.cosin@pressdemocrat.com