Witnesses are sharing their accounts of a brazen daytime robbery at a jewelry store in Richmond, B.C. Tuesday that terrorized shoppers at a local mall.

"I heard screaming first. I honestly thought it was a rat or a cockroach or something along the lines of that," said John Li, who works at the Richmond Centre Lucky Mobile booth near the scene of the incident.

"Then I heard glass shatter afterwards and then shortly after, three guys were running outside the mall, dodging people and everything."

Mounties say the three suspects worked together to distract employees at the jewelry store before reaching into the glass display cases and making off with handfuls of jewelry.

Video obtained by CTV News shows part of the heist, which occurred at around 3:45 p.m. At least one suspect can be seen jumping over a display case before running away. Another appears to dodge the display before running through the mall.

Li said he did not immediately realize what was going on, but tried to get a good look at the suspects in case he can help investigators identify them.

He said the three men appeared to be in their mid-20s to early 30s. The suspects, who are still on the loose, were all wearing matching Adidas tracksuits in three different colours, Li said.

This isn't the first dramatic jewelry store robbery to play out in a busy Metro Vancouver mall.

In 2010, three suspects fired shots and used pepper spray during a heist at Monte Cristo Jewelers in Oakridge Centre. That store was hit by thieves five times in just over three years.

Police say no weapons were used during Tuesday's robbery in Richmond, but it's unclear if any of the suspects were armed.

Fortunately, no one was injured, but many were shaken by the unexpected incident.

"In the middle of a mall? In the middle the day too?" Li said.

"It was really busy. There were people having coffee. I was passing by when it happened. It was so fast and so unusual," said Kim Johansson, another witness.

Anyone with information can contact Richmond RCMP at 604-278-1212.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Sheila Scott