Nail salon captures Kim’s robbers on camera
The gang of masked thugs who robbed Kim Kardashian at gunpoint were caught in the reflection of a “perfectly placed” mirror captured by surveillance cameras at a nearby nail salon, according to a report.
Paris police seized the improbable footage recorded by two cameras at the Bel Ange salon near Kardashian’s apartment at the Hotel de Pourtalés, where the gunmen stole about $10 million worth of jewelry, The Sun of the UK reported.
A mezzanine-level camera in the store was facing an outside mirror that reflected the robbers as they passed a retail section of the building, while a second camera caught them escaping through an unlocked back door to Marche De La Madeleine.
A New York City woman visiting Paris and whose friend is the nail salon owner told The Sun that police seized the video on Tuesday morning. Authorities have not yet released the footage.
“She wasn’t even allowed to view it herself but they told her what was on it,” Nina Richter said about the owner. “They said it showed their faces. The upstairs camera caught the gang in a mirror which looks out onto the street. It shot them perfectly as they made their way inside this shopping area and then a second camera got them as they made their way through an unlocked corridor to the car park. Police told the owner it has given them the best lead yet.”
Richter, who was at the salon having her nails done ahead of a fashion week party, said the camera perfectly captured the marauders making their getaway.
“It’s just happened to be facing the mirror so it just happened to be perfectly placed,” she said. “It’s a million-to-one chance. Obviously the gang knew where they were going, too. They weren’t just fleeing randomly into the night.
“It’s a surprise that the corridor they used to get away was unlocked but that’s just how it is especially considering the wealthy people who stay at that hotel so close by,” she said. “The robbers could actually have taken a short route on the street to get to the car park if they went by the street. But it seems they went via the corridor to try to evade being seen.
“Despite them having planned this like clockwork they would never have known that they would have been caught on CCTV like they have,” she said.
A parking lot security guard — who was snoozing during the gang’s getaway from the brazen heist — told authorities that he saw and heard nothing, the paper reported. Cameras at the lot did not capture the robbers fleeing on bikes.
Police retrieved cigarette butts nearby to check for DNA — on the off chance that an accomplice may have served as a lookout while Kardashian was being tied up and gagged upstairs, The Sun reported.
Meanwhile, more details have emerged about the Pourtales concierge who was forced at gunpoint to let the robbers into Kardashian’s apartment.
The reality TV star told authorities that the concierge was handcuffed when he opened her front door, TMZ reported.
“He opened the door and led them [the robbers] up and was in there the whole time,” she told cops, the gossip site reported.
“Are we gonna die?” she asked him. He calmly responded, “I don’t know,” TMZ reported.
She told police that he appeared to be very calm, despite being held at gunpoint by the robbers, who later took him back to the lobby and left him still cuffed.
Kim Kardashian returns to New York after her terrifying ordeal:
COMMENTS