Hospital arraignment for Bennett Valley robbery suspect (w/video)

An ex-convict who was released from prison earlier this month was arraigned in his hospital room Monday on an array of charges stemming from last week’s robbery and shootout at a Santa Rosa jewelry store.

Jimmy Terry, 43, of Oakland was shot at least four times during the robbery last Thursday at Bennett Valley Jewelers. In an unusual hearing at Memorial Hospital, where he is being treated for his wounds in a room guarded around the clock, Sonoma County prosecutors charged Terry with numerous felonies, including attempted homicide, robbery and multiple gun enhancements.

Meanwhile detectives Monday still were trying to identify and find a second robber. They now believe that man escaped in a getaway car the suspects had stashed in a nearby residential neighborhood, said Santa Rosa police Sgt. John Cregan.

“We haven’t found him yet. We’re not 100 percent positive who he is. Some tips have come in but we’re encouraging anyone who knows his identification and whereabouts to give us a call,” Cregan said.

Terry was stopped Thursday by off-duty Santa Rosa police officer Brian Mann, who had been having lunch nearby when he heard gunfire and tackled the wounded man as he attempted to flee the store.

The 1:30 p.m. robbery occurred when two men, wearing masks and carrying at least one gun, burst into the Yulupa Avenue store. Holding owner Ty Visscher and two store employees at gunpoint, they smashed glass cabinets and shoved jewelry and watches - some carrying a retail price of $40,000 - into bags.

The robbers, who had arrived at the strip mall in a red Ford Mustang, were mainly after the store’s Rolex watches, Cregan said.

Visscher grabbed his own gun at some point and a shootout broke out. Numerous shots were fired by Visscher and Terry, Cregan said.

Employee Suzanne Dodd, 64, was struck in each arm. Not seriously injured, she was treated and released.

Terry was hit at least four times - in the upper chest, groin, neck and hand. He remains under police guard and has improved enough to leave intensive care, Cregan said. He is expected to be incarcerated at the Sonoma County Jail later this month.

While Terry was quickly caught, the second man got into the Mustang and drove into a residential neighborhood. Police quickly found the car parked on Tachevah Drive and began an extensive, unsuccessful manhunt throughout east Santa Rosa and nearby Annadel State Park.

The suspects likely had placed a second car in the area, a common strategy used in robberies, police said. The Mustang had been stolen in Livermore several days ahead of the robbery, probably taken specifically for the Santa Rosa crime, Cregan said.

“We feel quite positive they had a clean car,” he said.

It remained unknown whether the escaping man had someone waiting for him in the second car or if he carried a second set of keys. Police know of no witnesses who saw the man getting into a second vehicle.

Once Terry is moved to the jail, he will be held without bail for violating parole. The robbery occurred less than two weeks after Terry had been released from state prison, where he served more than 10 years on a home invasion robbery case.

Detectives have interviewed Terry but Cregan declined to release further information about what the man said.

Robberies often occur at bank branches or businesses with easy access to major highways or roads, which makes it easier for suspects to get far away quickly. Bennett Valley Jewelers, in a corner of east Santa Rosa, is not near any major route but is the only Rolex dealer in Sonoma County. The store has been robbed three times since 2008, including an incident in July 2013, by suspects seeking Rolex watches.

“There are only two Rolex dealers north of San Francisco, all the way to the Oregon border. The other is in Corte Madera,” Cregan said.

The high-end watches targeted Thursday were valued at from about $10,000 to $40,000 each, and several had been put into the bags. The sergeant said the heist would have tallied well beyond $100,000.

Store employees were conducting an inventory, but it didn’t appear that anything was stolen Thursday, Cregan said.

“During the shootings, the bags got dropped and left,” he said.

The store was closed Monday and a phone message left for the owner wasn’t returned.

Whether the second man also was carrying a gun and fired it remained under investigation, as well as whether the wounded employee was shot by her boss or the robber, Cregan said. Detectives still are analyzing surveillance video. Even if Visscher did shoot the woman, he wouldn’t be arrested, the sergeant said.

“He was fighting in self defense of his employees and the store,” Cregan said.

Cregan said it was possible Terry would have gotten away without the fast action of the off-duty officer, who lunged at the suspect despite not being armed or wearing protective gear. “It truly was an heroic act on Officer Mann’s part. He was sitting, eating lunch with his fiancée, heard the gunshots and sprang into action.”

Terry wasn’t carrying a weapon, but officers found an unloaded revolver on the floor of the store, which Cregan said apparently had been dropped by Terry as he ran. Detectives believe the man emptied the handgun during the shootout.

A $2,500 reward fund has been offered by the Sonoma County Alliance for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the second man.

Cregan asked anyone with information to contact detectives at 543-3590.